THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB
DEPARTMENT OF LIFE SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON
ROMFORD ROAD, STRA TFORD,
LONDON, E15 4LZ
NEWSLETTER NO. 22 August 1997
THE PRESIDENT'S PAGE
First of all may I thank those (surprisingly many) people who responded to my thoughts
in the last newsletter by writing directly to me. It is very encouraging to get some sort of
feedback and rather nice to have people agree with me! Several people raised a number
of minor issues and 1 am pleased to say that, without exception, these were all matters that
Council is already actively addressing.
The Club's Council meet four or five times a year to organise the activities of the Club.
There is always at least one Council member at all of our meetings and they will be
pleased to discuss with you any matter relating to the Field Club. At its last meeting, the
Council made important decisions on a number of matters which should be of great
benefit both to you the members and to the Club as a whole as we approach the new
millennium (heck ... 1 swore I'd never utter that horrible word!!!). First, we approved a
sum of money for producing the 1997 Essex Naturalist. It is very encouraging indeed
that almost every member I have met since becoming your President has praised the new
style journal and said that they want to receive it on a regular, annual basis. In my other
role as editor of that journal I am now compiling the 1997 volume for publication in the
autumn. I have several contributions, but there is still room for more if anyone out there
has something they wish to have published. I have no major paper on invertebrates yet for
this year and there is always room for shorter notes on any natural historical or geological
topic to fill pages.
We also agreed that we should improve our biological recording role within the county,
particularly since the closure of the Passmore Edwards Museum has left the west of the
county without a solid recording base. Without information on the flora and fauna,
conservation bodies such as the Essex Wildlife Trust and English Nature can't possibly
work effectively and Council feels that the more organised provision of records will also
help liaison between the Club and these bodies. When the new museum in Epping Forest
is up and running, and it now looks as if it is going to be, the Club will be able to resume
its role as the county's primary data provider. Meanwhile we are looking closely at our
existing network of Recorders and, always bearing in mind that these people (of which I
am one) act in a purely voluntary capacity and can't actually be made to do anything they
don't want to do, we hope to both expand and improve on the existing system. All
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 22, August 1997