A living-room hobby that grew a little bit.

Strata Society began in 2016 when four friends realised they were all quietly obsessed with the same thing: dinosaurs. Not in a professional way — none of us are paleontologists — but in the way you never quite grow out of. We started meeting once a month to read a paper none of us fully understood and to argue, cheerfully, about it.

Ten years later we are a little bigger and a lot better organised, but the spirit hasn't changed. We are still amateurs in the best sense of the word: people who do this purely because we love it.

What we believe

• Curiosity beats credentials. You do not need a background in science to belong here. You need to be interested and kind.
• Wonder and rigour go together. We love the awe of deep time, and we try to get the facts right while we're feeling it.
• Small and human. We stay volunteer-run on purpose. No sponsors, no sales, no growth targets.

How it's run

Everything is organised by a rotating group of volunteer coordinators. We keep costs near zero: meetups happen in community rooms, libraries and cafés, and our reading materials are drawn from open-access research and members' own bookshelves. There are no dues and no paid tiers.

Who tends to turn up

Teachers, students, retired engineers, illustrators, a couple of geologists, and more than a few parents who got pulled back in by their kids. If you can name at least one dinosaur and want to name more, you'll fit right in.