President's Page
M.W. Hanson 3 Church Cottages, Church Road, Boreham, Essex CM3 3EG
2004 is the tenth anniversary of the closure of the Passmore Edwards Museum and the
fourth anniversary of the repatriation of the collections and library back to Essex. It is
rather regrettable that despite the efforts of the Field Club Council no resolution to our
long-term storage has yet been achieved. In the short term the recent sale of antiquarian
books will cover the costs of storage for at least three years (with a surplus to cover the
cost of relevant publications in the future). The storage conditions at the facility are not
ideal and I think it is imperative that some sort of plan for housing the collections is in
place within this timescale. If not, I feel that the collections will have to be dispersed,
with some perhaps going to museums (whose own future may not be secure) and some
yet again being sold. This would be a sad day for the Field Club, a tragedy for the county
of Essex and by setting a precedent, could have unfortunate consequences for other
societies' collections.
In talking to various people representing groups who might potentially house our
collections and library there is often an initial rash of enthusiasm......followed by a site
visit which reveals the full extent of the material needing to be stored, at which point
some sort of minor shock is registered!!!! To my mind this is completely
justifiable...looking after such collections on a long-term basis is likely, however
rewarding, to be an expensive and onerous responsibility.
One major problem and the stumbling block in every scheme is the lack of funding. The
Club may have to make a substantial financial contribution to the establishment of any
new facility, e.g. towards construction costs. Hopefully our drive towards charitable
status will enable us to be eligible for grants for long-term and short-term storage.
I have given some thought to our predicament and below I have listed a number of ideas
that I think could potentially help our situation:
1) That we are more pro-active in our desire for money to be willed to the Club... I
think we need a will form printed in the Essex Naturalist (as many other societies
do). We all enjoy our biological recording and it may well be that when the
time comes, some members may wish to put something back into the society
that has given them so much pleasure and a point of reference in all their lives.
This aspect of finance may become easier once we are a charity.
2) That we seek long-term sponsorship to help the Club with some of its financial
responsibilities. For over a hundred years the Club has been the principle
purveyor of validated biological records in the county, and it would be
appropriate at county level if some sort of contribution towards the continuation
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 44, May 2004
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