The Welsh Stone Forum intended to grow out of the Stone in Wales conference in Cardiff in April has now had its second meeting and hopes to establish itself formally with its inaugural annual general meeting in the spring.

Abridged versions of the papers presented at the April conference will be published next month (September) by Cadw, the Welsh equivalent of Historic Scotland whose Scottish Stone Liaison Group acted as a model upon which the Welsh Stone Forum is based.

The first Forum meeting consisted essentially of the organisers of the conference - from the University of Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales and the National Museum of Wales. John Davies from the Countryside Council for Wales was chosen as chairperson.

The follow-up meeting included representatives of architects and planners because the point of the Forum is to bring together a wide range of interests involved in the use of stone in construction and conservation.

Jana Horak, curator of petrology at the National Museum of Wales and one of the people heavily involved in the conference and the development of the Welsh Stone Forum, says they aim to base the Forum round at least two meetings a year, preferably at a site of interest.

They hope to hold the first such meeting in Pembrokeshire this autumn, then have another in the Spring in Cardiff bay, where the £104million Wales Millennium Centre, with walls containing 2,500 tonnes of Welsh slate, is currently under construction.

The Forum is also currently establishing a register of people who want to kept informed about the activities of the Forum and issues relating to stone. That is being compiled and maintained by Tim Palmer at the Institute of Earth Studies of the University of Wales.

Because the group has not so far attracted any direct financial support from Cadw or the Welsh assembly, its finances are limited and it is hoped that information can be gathered and disseminated using the internet.

"I\'m a little bit nervous about setting ourselves up with any great ambitions at the moment," says Jana Horak. "We would like to be a forum for developing issues. I think we need to establish our identity on an issue by issue basis."

Anyone interested in registering with the Forum should contact: