214 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Report of Council for 1953
This year has seen a change of president. Mr. Laurence S. Harley,
B.Sc, M.I.E.E., occupied the chair for four years, and his term of
office coincided with a difficult period in the history of the Club. Con-
sideration for its present and future welfare entailed the expenditure of
much time and thought, which Mr. Harley willingly gave. His outstanding
versatility enabled him, at the end of a lecturer's address to the Club, to
offer some interesting observations or raise pertinent questions no matter
what the subject.
We now welcome as our new President, Professor C. T. Ingold, D.Sc.
He holds a great reputation in the botanical world, and is already known
as a friend of the Club in that his invaluable assistance at the annual
Fungus Foray has come to be looked upon as a regular feature of the
meeting.
Apart from these domestic changes, the outstanding event of the year
has been the reopening to the public of the Essex Museum of Natural
History at Stratford after its being closed for 14 years. In 195'2 the Club
again raised with the Corporation of West Ham the question of reopening.
There was considerable difficulty on account of financial stringency, but the
Corporation were anxious to have the Museum open again, and accordingly
authorised its Chief Education Officer to see if voluntary financial assistance
could be obtained. He was successful in securing the co-operation of Messrs.
Tate & Lyle Ltd., who undertook to provide an attendant. The Club
undertook to continue the curation of the Museum until at least the end
of the current financial year, and in these circumstances the Corporation
arranged that the Museum should be open for a period of five hours on five
days of each week. A working party was constituted to deal with the
day-to-day management of the Museum until more adequate and permanent
arrangements could be made.
The formal reopening of the Museum by the Mayor of West Ham,
Alderman W. A. (Tillman, J.P., took place on 19th September, 1953, and
the ceremony was conducted in the Great Hall of the West Ham College
of Technology, Stratford. Alderman Mrs. D. Parsons, M.B.E., J.P.,
presided. This official opening was coupled with an exhibition arranged by
the Libraries Committee of the Corporation entitled "A Pageant of South-
West Essex". For this purpose, many of the Museum cases were adapted
by the Borough Librarian's staff to show- a large number of photographs
and prints illustrating the history of the district. Following the opening
by the Mayor, votes of thanks were proposed by Councillor Miss Smith
and seconded by Professor C. T. Ingold.
The Club's Honorary Curator, Mr. S. Waller, worked steadily on the
care of the collection, and immediately prior to the reopening greatly
intensified his efforts and worked for many hours on the cleaning and
rearrangement of some of the exhibits. The other members of the working
party also intensified their efforts, and after the Borough Librarian's
exhibition various temporary exhibits were arranged in some of the cases.
Unfortunately, Mr. Waller did not feel able to continue as Curator under
the new arrangements, and resigned from that office and from the working
party in November. Accordingly, another member of the Club was appointed
to fill his place on the working party, which then consisted of Mr. C. B.
Pratt, Mr. E. E. Syms, Dr. E. A. Rudge (Principal of West Ham College
of Technology) and Mr. E. R. Gamester (Borough Librarian). In addition,
a number of other members of the Club volunteered to attend at the Museum
at regular intervals to assist in caring for the collection and in answering
questions by visitors. A time-table of these attendances is exhibited on