REPORTS OF MEETINGS
301
Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge has continued steadily throughout the
year. Mr. Ross has continued the exhibit of flowering plants and has again
shown a large number of the species which are found in the district. On
19 September, the Museum was again reopened to the public. The present
temporary arrangement is for opening from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays,
Saturdays, and Sundays. This is the first time that Sunday opening has been
permitted. In the first two months no less than 2000 visitors have seen the
building and collections—a striking tribute to the service which such a
Museum can provide for the general public. The increase in the number of
visitors has resulted in a large sale of the Guide to the Museum. A new and
up-to-date edition is in preparation and thanks are due to Dr. Reginald
Curnock for able and willing assistance in this work.
Our Field Meetings Secretaries, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ward, have
again arranged a series of most interesting meetings during the summer.
There were seven in all, comprising two in Epping Forest, one in an area of
parkland and riverside, one covering small preserved woodlands, one on the
marshlands and saltings and two in cultivated areas for special archaeological
subjects. The occasional Thursday afternoon field meetings have been con-
tinued and have been often very well attended.
The attendance at the Saturday and Sunday field meetings has, on occasion,
been large and the problems arising from this increased popularity are receiving
due attention.
In the last Report it was mentioned that a committee appointed to deal
with the botanical records had entrusted Mr. W. Howard with the recording
of the flora of the county as observed by the members of the Club, or preserved
in the herbarium of the Museum, or mentioned in The Essex Naturalist and
other publications in the Club's possession. Druce's Comital Flora of the
British Isles has been used for the record and considerably more than 500
species have been noted therein. In the case of most species more than one
entry has been made to afford an idea of its range throughout the county and
this entailed the making of over 2000 entries.
Our Hon. Librarian, Mr. C. Hall Crouch, reports with pleasure that
members are making greater use of our splendid library. There were 147
books borrowed during the year as compared with ninety-five in the previous
year.
We regret to report that the Club has lost two members by death, Mr.
E. W. Green, O.B.E., who became a member in 1937, and Mr. Frank Whit-
worth, J.P., Editor of The Stratford Express, and a much respected figure in
the public life of West Ham, who died on 21 November, aged sixty-nine.
It remains to report that our membership shows an increase. There have
been twenty resignations and fifty-one new members have been elected, thus
resulting in a total membership at the end of December 1950 of 220.
REPORTS OF MEETINGS
Ordinary Meeting (916th Meeting)
SATURDAY, 28 JANUARY 1950
This meeting was held in the West Ham Municipal College at 3 p.m.,
with the President, Mr. Laurence S. Harley, in the chair.
The President referred to the death on 13 January, of Miss Edith Mary
Lister, who had been a member of the Club since 1928.
He then spoke of the gift to the Club by Mrs. Scourfield of a bound set
of the published papers of D. J. Scourfield. He expressed the gratitude of
the members for this unique and valuable present.