Indoor meetings are normally held at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London (nearest undergound station South Kensington) at intervals of four to six weeks between September and April. The main event at these meetings is usually a lecture by a guest speaker or society member. Most meetings also include a show-and-tell session when people have an opportunity to show specimens and anything else of molluscan interest to those at the meeting, and get comments from them. There are also opportunities for informal discussions over tea/coffee, and to purchase Society goods and back publications. The meetings take place in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity. To find this most easily, come into the Museum at the main entrance. In front of you, you will find a large blue whale skeleton. At the far end of the blue whale skeleton, turn left down a passage past a shop on the right and a cafeteria on the left and you'll see stairs leading down to an open glass-fronted lower-level atrium. The Centre is not open-access, so you will need to ring the bell to the right of the door (close to the end of the atrium) to gain admission.
To join the online meetings please email Catherine Jagger at Circa (shellmember@gmail.com) preferably at least one week prior to the meeting, indicating your intention to attend. She will then send you full joining instructions and a meeting agenda.
Conchological Society Indoor Meetings 2023
Last checked 26th November 2023
(Please note, all meetings (except July and November meetings) will be held in the Angela Marmont Centre, Natural History Museum (2.00pm), but also on Zoom).
Saturday 9th December 2023 - INDOOR MEETING with exhibits and lecture (NHM with Zoom link)
14.00 - 17.00 (13.45 Zoom sign in - pre-register with Circa (shellmember@gmail.com))
Guest speaker: Richard Preece, 'William Benson and the Golden Age of Malacology in British India’. A talk following the publication in 2023 of a monograph on Benson’s pioneering work in India. Angela Marmont Centre, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD. Council members please note that there will be a Council meeting before this meeting (Live and Zoom).
Saturday 17th February 2024 - INDOOR MEETING with exhibits and lecture (NHM with Zoom link)
14.00-17.00 (13.45 Zoom sign in - pre-register with Circa (shellmember@gmail.com))
Guest Speaker: Chris Fletcher (Natural History Museum), ‘The Darwin Tree of Life Project: Sequencing Britain.’ A talk describing the Darwin Tree of Life project which aims to collect representatives of all eukaryotic organisms in the British Isles and sequence their entire genomes. Angela Marmont Centre, Natural History Museum, London SW 7 5BD. Council members please note that there will be a Council meeting before this meeting (Zoom).
Saturday 20th April 2024 - ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND ADDRESS (NHM with Zoom link)
14.00 - 17.30 (13.45 Zoom sign in - pre-register with Circa (shellmember@gmail.com))
Guest speaker: Tom Walker, ‘In search of aliens; hothouse molluscs in Britain and Ireland.’ A talk describing issues relating to a range of species that have been found living in hothouses. Angela Marmont Centre, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD. Council members please note that there will NOT be a Council meeting before this meeting.
Saturday 6th July 2024 - ZOOM MEETING with online exhibits and lecture
14.00 - 16.00 approx. (13.45 Zoom sign in - pre-register with Circa (shellmember@gmail.com))
Guest speaker: Imogen Cavadino, 'What can Citizen Science tell us about slugs in British gardens?' In this talk we hear about the citizen science research Imogen ran as part of her PhD, with "Slugs Count" the first in-depth study of the British garden slug fauna since the 1940s. We'll hear how over 22,000 new slug records made by the public have helped inform understanding of the slug fauna in Britain and illustrate large-scale changes in our gardens over recent decades. Council members please note that there will be a Council meeting before this meeting (Zoom).
Saturday 19th October 2024 - INDOOR MEETING with exhibits and lecture (NHM with Zoom link)
14.00 - 17.00 (13.45 Zoom sign in - pre-register with Circa (shellmember@gmail.com))
Guest speaker: John Hutchinson (Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz). ‘A slug saga: historical confusions and new findings about Ambigolimax parvipenis.’ A talk including a fascinating detective saga into what had been named ‘Ambigolimax nyctelius’. Angela Marmont Centre, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD. Council members please note that there will be a Council meeting before this meeting (Live and Zoom).
Saturday 9th November 2024 - REGIONAL MEETING in Cardiff.
Organisers: Ben Rowson, Anna Holmes and Martin Willing. The event will be held in the National Museum Cardiff / Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd. The meeting will consist of short papers with a particular focus on recent Welsh molluscan projects including those associated with the HLF supported Natur am Byth ‘(Back from the Brink’) project. There will also be opportunities to tour the mollusc collections within the department including several recently acquired ones.
Contributions of presentations (up to 20/25 minutes) will be welcomed. Please contact the organisers for more details. It is likely that a Conservation and Recording Forum meeting will be held on Sunday 10th November.
Saturday 7th December 2024 - INDOOR MEETING with exhibits and lecture (NHM with Zoom link)
14.00 - 17.00 (13.45 Zoom sign in - pre-register with Circa)
Guest speaker: Louise Firth (Plymouth University). ‘Limpets: ecosystem engineers that provide ecosystem services.’ Angela Marmont Centre, Natural History Museum, London SW 7 5BD. Council members please note that there will be a Council meeting before this meeting (Live and Zoom).
ONLINE ‘EXHIBITS’
Members are invited to address the meeting for a maximum of four minutes to show an exhibit or speak briefly on a mollusc-related theme. Anyone wishing to do this please e mail the Hon. Secretary, Rosemary Hill (secretary@conchsoc.org) in advance of the meeting. Note that for each meeting the number of speakers will be limited to the first five applicants.
The Programme Secretary will be happy to receive suggestions about interesting speakers or subjects.
All our meetings are open to non-members if space is available: if you would like to come, please contact Martin Willing (martinjwilling@gmail.com).
Meeting Programme compiled by Martin Willing. Contacts for meetings related matters are either Martin Willing
(martinjwilling@gmail.com) OR Rosemary Hill (secretary@conchsoc.org).