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The Scottish RIGS groups

There are currently six RIGS groups in Scotland:

• geoHeritage Fife (contact is Mike Browne);
• Highlands (contact to be added);
• Stirling and Clackmannan (contact is Tom Kerr or Stewart Eastaugh);
• Tayside Geodiversity (contact is Mark Simmons, Chair. View group webpages)’ [e-mail address is museum@pkc.gov.uk . Web address is http://www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk/Geodiversity/] ;
• Strathclyde: contact is Seonaid Leishman, Secretary. [e-mail is strathrigs@tiscali.co.uk. Web address is http://www.geologyglasgow.org.uk/] ;
• Lothian and Borders: change to ‘Lothian and Borders (contact is the Secretary. View group webpages)’ [e-mail address as is i.e. mcadam.39@virgin.net. Web address is http://www.edinburghgeolsoc.org/rigs/r_home.html]

Representatives and volunteers on these groups include local authority planning, ranger, museum and education services, SNH (Advisory and Area staff), British Geological Survey (BGS), Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), Scottish Rural Property and Business Association, universities and amateur volunteers.

The Lothian and Borders RIGS Group was the first to be founded in September 1992. It has been a successful group with respect to both designation and interpretation of sites. Some of the work of this group is included on this site.

How does a local RIGS Group work? The answer is: in many different ways. Lothian and Borders, for example, has both a mainly professional Committee that meets quarterly and a Volunteer Group that meets monthly, in the offices of BGS. The Committee monitors progress, designates RIGS, and directs the efforts of the Volunteer Group in producing interpretation leaflets and posters, managing and clearing sites and visiting potential RIGS sites.

Conserving and managing sites

The Lothian and Borders RIGS Group has made progress with the conservation and enhancement of RIGS with conservation and management plans having been prepared for Torphin Quarry RIGS and Petershill Reservoir Quarry. Petershill is managed by volunteers on behalf of the owners, the Scottish Wildlife Trust. This involves regular work parties to clear the site of rubbish maintaining access to exposures and conserve the wetland floor of the quarry.

Interpretive leaflets by RIGS Group Interpretive posters RIGS Group