ANNUAL REPORT
339
The Essex Field Club
Annual Report for 1960
IN January 1960 the Club celebrated the eightieth anniversary
of its foundation. On such an occasion it is natural to look
back, not without some pride, on the achievements of the past,
but it is to the future that our attention should be directed. The
changes that the next eighty years will bring to Essex, even in
the most obvious aspect of urban development, can only be
surmised, but the necessity is clear for an active, county-wide
Field Club, a body of persons interested in the county and its
natural history in the widest sense of the term. The Members of
the Club to-day have a responsibility to their successors in eighty
years' time, a responsibility which can partly be discharged by
ensuring that the unavoidable urban development of Essex is
achieved without doing irreparable harm to the natural amenities
and value of the county. In addition, to-day's naturalists owe it
to future generations to record the present state and status of the
animals and plants which they study. It is with this in mind
that the Council recommends to all naturalists, and particularly
to our Members, the efforts being made by the Club's Recorders
to collect information about the animals and plants of Essex.
The past year has been satisfactory without being in any way
outstanding in the development of the Club. It is pleasant to
report that membership has shewn another increase. Forty
persons have joined the Club during 1960, nine of them members
under the age of 21. In addition, the Council has been pleased to
admit to affiliation with the Club, Harwich County High School,
and the Fisheries Laboratory, Burnham-on-Crouch. Losses from
the membership amount to ten; this, the Council is sorry to
announce, includes the death of Mr. F. J. Lamber of Leigh-on-
Sea, who joined the Club in 1920, and was an active Member until
a few years ago. The total number of Members and Affiliated
Bodies now amounts to 283. However, the Council wishes to
warn Members that unless the membership of the Club rises
substantially within the next year it may become necessary to
increase the annual subscription. Members are, therefore, urged
to make the Club as widely known as possible amongst those of
their friends who are in sympathy with the objects of the Club.
The 1959 issue of The Essex Naturalist was published during
the early part of the year. The Council regrets that it was delayed
in this way, a delay that was occasioned by the dispute in the
printing industry, but hopes that after the publication of the
next (1960) issue in 1961 it will be possible to return to the regular
issue of he Club's journal as before.
The Club now has three Groups, those for Geology, for Botany
and for Mammals, the latter two founded during the year. The