61
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.
Presented to the Annual Meeting on March 30TH, 1935.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your Council has to congratulate the Club on reaching the fifty-fifth
year of its existence in a continued state of health and activity, notwith-
standing that during the past year we have had to deplore the loss by
death of several of our oldest and most valued members. Miss E.
Willmott, Mr. Robert Paulson, Sir Albert Spicer, Mr. W. Bridger, Mr.
W. P. Forbes, Mr. Fisher Unwin and Miss Tresham have alike fallen to
the last enemy, and left us the poorer for their passing.
The routine work of the Club has proceeded normally. At the
Stratford Museum, 326 items have been added to the Pictorial Survey,
making a total of 9,348 mounted views and maps, and 111 bound volumes
added to the Library, the total number of volumes being now 6,683.
In addition, many interesting specimens have been acquired for the
Museum collections.
At Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, under Mr. Ross's careful superintendence,
the exhibition cases have been rearranged for the better display of
specimens and additional showcases have been approved by your Council,
with the consent of the Epping Forest Committee, and are shortly to be
installed.
Our meetings during the past year have been well attended and of
interesting character. The Club owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Salmon,
Mr. and Mrs. Harley, Mr. Barns, Mr. Crouch and Mr. Brand for organising
some most enjoyable field meetings, and to His Worship the Mayor of
Colchester, the late Miss E. Willmott, and the Rev. W. Moffatt
for hospitality kindly given on these excursions, some of which may be
reckoned among the very best outdoor meetings ever held by the Club.
At the indoor meetings, the experiment of arranging for short papers
and special exhibits by our members, in place of a more elaborate paper
or lecture, has been warmly approved, and will be continued in the future
as opportunity occurs.
The finances of the Club are in a healthy state, and our Treasurer
is able to present a balanced budget for 1934.
Two further Parts of the Essex Naturalist have been published, so
completing the twenty-fourth volume.
The work of copying the parish registers of West Ham has been
sedulously pursued throughout the year; nine Books in all have now
been transcribed and bound, bringing the copied entries from their
beginning in 1653 up to well within the Nineteenth century; in addition,
two further Books have been transcribed and are now being bound.
Circumstances prevented the investigations at Ambresbury Banks in
Epping Forest from being continued, as intended, during 1934, but it
is hoped to resume operations there during the coming summer: other
scientific investigations, in other parts of the County, are also in con-
templation.
In order to some extent to lighten the work of the Hon. Secretary,
the Council has to-day appointed Mr. John Salmon to be Hon. Excursions
Secretary to the Club, to act in co-operation with the Hon. General