Council
Four Council meetings were held including a full day meeting in October. Amongst the issues considered by Council were: placing an advertisement for the Society in British Wildlife; the work of the Conservation and Recording Committee; biological record data sharing agreements with the National Biodiversity Data Centre, Ireland and with other organisations; the Society’s insurance; the Society’s publications; the development of a Society Recording Manual; and Society finances.
Programme
The programme for 2008 consisted of five indoor meetings held at the Natural History Museum in London, one indoor meeting held at National Museum Wales in Cardiff, nine field meetings and one indoor workshop. The meeting in Cardiff included lectures by Ben Rowson (Britain’s carnivorous slugs and snails), Muriel Alix (Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in Cardiff Bay: a case study), Jan Light (Marine molluscs of caves and upper shore crevices), Steve Wilkinson (Recording, mapping and encyclopedias), June Chatfield (J R le B Tomlin's residence in Reading and St Leonards near Hastings and his connection with the local museums), Peter Topley (Molluscs, churchyard use and wildlife management: two Bedfordshire examples), and Graham Oliver (The DTI British Bivalves Project). There were also workshops on British slugs and British pyramidellids (Odostomia and Brachystomia).
Ron Boyce welcomes ideas for meetings of all kinds and for speakers for the indoor meetings.
Council Positions
Dr J D Nunn began her third year as President of the Society. The following Society Officers were elected: Hon. General Secretary Miss R E Hill, Hon. Treasurer Mr P U Buckle, Hon. Membership Secretary Mr M D Weideli, Hon. Editor (Journal) Dr P G Oliver, Hon. Editor (Mollusc World) Mr I J Killeen, Hon. Marine Recorder Dr J M Light, Hon Non- Marine Recorder Dr A Norris, Hon. Conservation Officer Dr M J Willing and Hon. Programme Secretary Mr R Boyce. New Ordinary members of Council were Mr T Clifton, Mrs C M Street and Mr J P van Weert. Mr K Brown, Mr P T Wimbleton and Mr S Payne began their second year; and Dr M J Allen, Mr R Carr and Dr S B Wilkinson began their third year.
Membership
Membership of the Society at the end of 2008 was 293. This includes Life Members, Honorary Members, Ordinary Members, Family Members, Student Members and Institutions. There were 20 new members in the year, but 15 members resigned or lapsed through non-payment, giving a net gain of 5 members for the year. During the year there were 73 subscribers to the Journal of Conchology which is one more than in 2007. Please take every opportunity to recruit new members. Either pass their details to Mike Weideli or encourage them to join via the website. Recruitment leaflets may be obtained from Celia Pain or Rosemary Hill at indoor meetings. The Society display poster may be obtained from Terry Wimbleton in either A3 or A2 size.
Publications
Two issues of the Journal of Conchology (Volume 39: 4, 5) and three issues of Mollusc World (Numbers 16-18, March, July and November) were published. The Society also published the Members’ Guide. The new version of the Society’s website www.conchsoc.org was launched in February and is attracting an impressive number of visits from at least 114 countries.
Research Grants
One application for research grants was received and granted to Alexandra Zieritz on ‘Assessing the role of genetic variability versus phenotypic plasticity in intraspecific morphological variation of freshwater mussels (Unionoidea) on a small geographic scale.’
A grant was also given to the Prehistoric Society towards the production cost of a book: ‘Land and People: Papers in Memory of John G Evans.
Legacies and donations
The Society is most grateful to Miss Stella Davies for a legacy of £2000 in addition to books and papers. The Society is also grateful to Miss Helen Rhoden for the donation of a lifetime collection of marine specimens mainly from the UK and Ireland and for books.
Announcements of deaths
The death of the following member was announced at an Indoor Meeting: Miss Stella Davies (member since 1948).
The Society would like to thank all members of Council and Society volunteers for their valuable contributions during the year.