President's Page
Del Smith Milltown of Dunnideer, Insch, Aberdeenshire AB52 6XQ
Email: Delsmith444@btinternet.com
Wishing you all a peaceful new year, as I write from a bright frosty hillside in
Aberdeenshire, which is the site of our new home. After living in Essex for almost the
whole of my life it is somewhat of an abrupt change, unlike the gradual and relentless
change that has taken place in my part of Essex over the past fifty years or so. Dagnam
Park where I spent the years of my boyhood is now surrounded by my estate and the
M25 Motorway. Although not what it was, it is still a rare and beautiful place so if you
are passing by drop in, it's free.
I am grateful to Peter Harvey who will pick up the President's role from here on and has
allowed his name to go forward to the next AGM as prospective President for 2007.
With Peter leading, along with a raft of new Council members set to join the experienced
members already in place, we look well set for future years. I am to continue as
Membership Secretary at least as long as the Council require my services, beyond that I
shall always remain a member. I will miss many things in Essex: obviously the local
countryside was my first love, but my family and friends are close competitors. Amongst
those friends are the many Essex Field Club members that I have met since I joined in
1976, some of whom have become close friends. Ron Payne was the first member I ever
met. He was the Diptera recorder at the time and after a few telephone conversations he
invited me to dinner in Southend. During that dinner he suggested that I should take
over as recorder as he was "getting on a bit". I was both nervous and delighted to take on
the job and with a little help from Ron I have been doing it and enjoying it ever since.
Thirty years on Ron is fit and well and still active in the field. I last spoke with him after
a break of 20 years by phone to Norfolk about four months ago. He remembers me as
"that communist chappie from the council estate'', which is about right. I still have and
value Ron's card indexes and I am slowly getting the data computerised; long Scottish
winter nights will be conducive to that.
Despite a lot of effort and some heartache the proposal to move some of our collection
to storage at Mark Hanson's house did not materialise and the likelihood is that the
move will not now take place, at least in the short term. Looking further ahead we are
now exploring yet another possibility in south Essex. It looks promising and Peter Harvey
is taking the lead on these discussions. I wish him well and I am confident that he will
not fail from lack of effort on his part.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 52, January 2007
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