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REPORT OF THE COUNCIL
PRESENTED TO THE ANNUAL MEETING, MARCH 24TH, 1934.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your Council begs to present the following Report on the work of the
Club during the past year.
The loss sustained by the Club in the recent decease of our Honorary-
Treasurer. Mr. John Avery, is a grievous one. Mr. Avery has been a
member since the year 1889, has served on the Council since 1892 and has
been Hon. Treasurer for the past seventeen years, during which time
his professional knowledge as an accountant has been ungrudgingly given
to the Club's accounts. His death is a heavy loss to us.
The meetings during the year under review have been well attended
and the quality of the scientific papers read and lectures given has been
of high degree. The field-meetings have been fully equal to any in the
long history of the Club. Hospitality has been kindly afforded by Dr.
and Mrs. Campbell and their family at Layer Marney, by Mr. and Mrs.
Crouch at Woodford, and by Mrs. Humphry at Horham Hall ; and Miss
Greaves, Miss Prince, Mr. and Mrs. Harley, Mr. Barns, Mr. Crouch, Mr.
Salmon, and the Hon. Secretary have acted as Conductors ; to each of
these our grateful thanks are due.
The annual Fungus Foray, in spite of most inclement weather, was
attended by one hundred persons, of whom seventy hardy individuals
stayed out the entire day's programme.
Two further Parts of the "Essex Naturalist" have been issued
during the year.
The "General Index" to volumes I. to XXII., covering the period
from 1887 to 1930, has now been completed by the untiring efforts of our
Honorary Librarian, Mr. Barns, and runs to 217 pages ; Mr. Barns has
earned the warmest thanks of the Club for this monumental piece of work.
The work of the Stratford Museum has progressed without hitch :
the ever-increasing size of the collections is now somewhat of a difficulty
in that space for their adequate exhibition is so limited.
The Pictorial Survey has had 258 items added to it during the year
and now totals 9000 mounted views ; of these, one thousand illustrate
West Ham and constitute a most valuable pictorial record of the Borough
for the information of future generations, many of the views being from
official sources.
The Library has been enriched by the generous donation of nearly
seventy volumes by our late member, Mr. J.J. Holdsworth, shortly before
his decease. 67 volumes have been bound during the year and a total
of 6572 bound volumes has now been reached, most of these being available
for home-borrowing.
A few individual members have been for nearly the whole year, and
still are, engaged in making a transcript of the West Ham Parish Registers,
by kind permission of the Vicar. Three of the earlier books have already
been transcribed and the bound copies deposited in the Club's Library.
The Forest Museum has remained open to the public throughout the
year and is being carefully watched over by Mr. Ross.
A preliminary investigation of the prehistoric camp in Epping Forest
known as Ambresbury Banks was made during last autumn under the