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The report of the president
Bulletin of the British Mycological Society (Bull.Brit.myc.Soc.) Volume 10 part I. Spring 1976
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING DECEMBER 6th 1975 THE REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, D.M. HENDERSON I have to report with regret the loss of a number of members of our Society, Dr Lubin, Dr Keyworth, Dr Ramsbottom, Professor William Brown and Mr E.W. Mason. Two of these, especially, John Ramsbottom and William Brown were honorary members of the Society and giants in their own sphere. John Ramsbottom was a basic authority for fungal taxonomy in Britain and overseas for many decades at the beginning of this century. William Brown in many ways was a founder of the science of plant pathology in Great Britain. John Ramsbottom always had the welfare of the Society at heart and in his typical generous fashion left the Society a legacy of £200, plus a portion of the residue of his estate, this account to be used for illustrations. These matters refer to the passing of the old but we equally note the addition of new members. Unfortunately Dr Clarke reports a net drop of 48 members. We now have 1,202 members, 237 associates and 8 honorary members, a total of 1,447. Several members of the Society have been promoted or honoured in the year past. Dr Pugh has been appointed to a chair of biological sciences in the University of Aston, Birmingham. Dr Hirst has taken up appointment as Director of Long Ashton Research Station. Professor P.W. Brian an ex-president and one of our trustees has been made a Commander of the British Empire. The policy of meetings of the Society-continues to involve' maximum collaboration with other disciplines together with specialist growth within the Society itself. Our strong link with the Association of Applied Biologists con tinues through the Federation of British Plant Pathologists which held four meetings in the course of the year. Our Physiology group continued successfully under the leadership of Professor Jennings and there is a growing interest in fungal ecology judged from a meeting in Nottingham. Quite clearly with the enormous expansion in mycological studies there is a growing tendency for more specialisation. The Society is recognising this and catering for it by these more specialised meetings and the matter will be formalized by the change in the rules to be introduced later in this meeting. All these activities place even greater burdens on Dr Dickinson the programme secretary and we must recognise his enormous work and congratulate him on remaining relatively sane throughout. Our floristic interests have always been catered for admirably by the foray committee. They too, are diversifying and specialising. They organised a specialist polypore weekend and a meeting to discuss fungal recording in Britain together with an admirable series of day forays, a Spring foray at Cambridge and an Autumn one at Aberdeen. Dr Greenhalgh organised all these with the backing of the foray committee and with particular help in Aberdeen from Dr Hadley. In Aberdeen the foray was enlivened by a particularly amiable foreign guest from Lyons, Professor Kiihner, and a large party from the North American Mycological Association. They gave us a strong course in mushroom cooking and eating so much so that I have heard murmurings demanding the formation of a mycophagists' group in the Society. While our meeting activities are important we may not always remember that our publications, the Transactions and the Bulletin are major co ntribut ions to mycological science. I have the privilege of seeing both main editors at work in Edinburgh, Professor A. Morton and Dr Mary Noble. They and their associated editors put in a prodigious amount of work on our behalf. While our publications are highly successful they are nevertheless a very expensive matter. Coun cil had to review the costs of the Transactions this year via a committee
2
under Dr Lucas. The Cambridge University Press was as helpful to the Committee as ever, as a result Council has opted for no reduction in standard or total content but has agreed to printing by offset litho on a double column page. The first parts produced in this form will appear in 1976 . It says much for the capabilities of Dr Noble that she produces the Bulletin more or less single-handed while the Transactions requires at least eight men. Both the Transactions and the Bulletin are still under review. The Society was represented at the periodical conference of Commonwealth Plant Pathologists at Kew in the Summer. We were concerned that the CMI's service to mycology and plant pathology might be curtailed because of financial problems. At least there have been no major adverse results yet but Council will want to maintain its interest and watchfulness on the matter. The Treasurer assures us that the financial affairs of the Society are as sound as can be -expected in present conditions but he speaks more fully of this in his report. On future development it seems likely that funds for travel will be more restricted for our members. It will therefore probably be prudent to arrange our activities in collaboration with other meetings so far as possible. Our members may then have the maximum case for obtaining funds. We have as usual been indebted to a very large number of organisations for help during the year. Without support from universities, colleges and institutes and private firms the Society would not be as successful as it is. Likewise without the hard work of its officers and Council members its success would not be assured. TREASURER'S REPORT 1974 We received an outstandingly generous gift of £1,000 during the year; this was made up of a legacy from Miss E.M. Blackwell together with two-thirds of the money donated to the Blackwell Memorial Fund. A list of the subscribers to the fund has been placed in the Society's records. The Officers thanked the Executors and Trustees at the time, of course, but with a gift of this munificence you, Mr President, may wish to move that we record our thanks formally in full meeting. [The President at this moment proposed that the Society's thanks to the Executors and to the Trustees of Blackwell Memorial Fund should be recorded. This was carried with acclamation. ) Council has no more, and certainly no less, trouble than ereryone else in Western Europe in judging sensible ways of handling finances in today's uncertain economy. Ten years ago we were planning in 4-5 year strategic cycles, we could make tactical adjustments each year, and when we looked back over each period we found that forecasts and results matched each other pretty well. Today the information needed for this sort of rational planning just doesn't exist. I think that we need to face this quite clearly. We have to make the best judgements we can on uncertainties, and we feel much less confident in forecasting as a result. I think that members will find it convenient if I present a factual report on the completed accounts for the year as a separate item first, then we can go on to crystal balls and Council's actions about the future . Accounts for the year 1974 This was the year in which inflation really started to bite . The prices and subscr iptions rates had, necessarily, been fixed in the summer of 1973 ; we did this in relation to what we could estimate about likely money movements in 1974. In the event inflation increased at a quite unprecedented rate during the year . Both the Administrative and the Publishing costs increased by over 20%,
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING DECEMBER 6th 1975 THE REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, D.M. HENDERSON I have to report with regret the loss of a number of members of our Society, Dr Lubin, Dr Keyworth, Dr Ramsbottom, Professor William Brown and Mr E.W. Mason. Two of these, especially, John Ramsbottom and William Brown were honorary members of the Society and giants in their own sphere. John Ramsbottom was a basic authority for fungal taxonomy in Britain and overseas for many decades at the beginning of this century. William Brown in many ways was a founder of the science of plant pathology in Great Britain. John Ramsbottom always had the welfare of the Society at heart and in his typical generous fashion left the Society a legacy of £200, plus a portion of the residue of his estate, this account to be used for illustrations. These matters refer to the passing of the old but we equally note the addition of new members. Unfortunately Dr Clarke reports a net drop of 48 members. We now have 1,202 members, 237 associates and 8 honorary members, a total of 1,447. Several members of the Society have been promoted or honoured in the year past. Dr Pugh has been appointed to a chair of biological sciences in the University of Aston, Birmingham. Dr Hirst has taken up appointment as Director of Long Ashton Research Station. Professor P.W. Brian an ex-president and one of our trustees has been made a Commander of the British Empire. The policy of meetings of the Society-continues to involve' maximum collaboration with other disciplines together with specialist growth within the Society itself. Our strong link with the Association of Applied Biologists con tinues through the Federation of British Plant Pathologists which held four meetings in the course of the year. Our Physiology group continued successfully under the leadership of Professor Jennings and there is a growing interest in fungal ecology judged from a meeting in Nottingham. Quite clearly with the enormous expansion in mycological studies there is a growing tendency for more specialisation. The Society is recognising this and catering for it by these more specialised meetings and the matter will be formalized by the change in the rules to be introduced later in this meeting. All these activities place even greater burdens on Dr Dickinson the programme secretary and we must recognise his enormous work and congratulate him on remaining relatively sane throughout. Our floristic interests have always been catered for admirably by the foray committee. They too, are diversifying and specialising. They organised a specialist polypore weekend and a meeting to discuss fungal recording in Britain together with an admirable series of day forays, a Spring foray at Cambridge and an Autumn one at Aberdeen. Dr Greenhalgh organised all these with the backing of the foray committee and with particular help in Aberdeen from Dr Hadley. In Aberdeen the foray was enlivened by a particularly amiable foreign guest from Lyons, Professor Kiihner, and a large party from the North American Mycological Association. They gave us a strong course in mushroom cooking and eating so much so that I have heard murmurings demanding the formation of a mycophagists' group in the Society. While our meeting activities are important we may not always remember that our publications, the Transactions and the Bulletin are major co ntribut ions to mycological science. I have the privilege of seeing both main editors at work in Edinburgh, Professor A. Morton and Dr Mary Noble. They and their associated editors put in a prodigious amount of work on our behalf. While our publications are highly successful they are nevertheless a very expensive matter. Coun cil had to review the costs of the Transactions this year via a committee
2
under Dr Lucas. The Cambridge University Press was as helpful to the Committee as ever, as a result Council has opted for no reduction in standard or total content but has agreed to printing by offset litho on a double column page. The first parts produced in this form will appear in 1976 . It says much for the capabilities of Dr Noble that she produces the Bulletin more or less single-handed while the Transactions requires at least eight men. Both the Transactions and the Bulletin are still under review. The Society was represented at the periodical conference of Commonwealth Plant Pathologists at Kew in the Summer. We were concerned that the CMI's service to mycology and plant pathology might be curtailed because of financial problems. At least there have been no major adverse results yet but Council will want to maintain its interest and watchfulness on the matter. The Treasurer assures us that the financial affairs of the Society are as sound as can be -expected in present conditions but he speaks more fully of this in his report. On future development it seems likely that funds for travel will be more restricted for our members. It will therefore probably be prudent to arrange our activities in collaboration with other meetings so far as possible. Our members may then have the maximum case for obtaining funds. We have as usual been indebted to a very large number of organisations for help during the year. Without support from universities, colleges and institutes and private firms the Society would not be as successful as it is. Likewise without the hard work of its officers and Council members its success would not be assured. TREASURER'S REPORT 1974 We received an outstandingly generous gift of £1,000 during the year; this was made up of a legacy from Miss E.M. Blackwell together with two-thirds of the money donated to the Blackwell Memorial Fund. A list of the subscribers to the fund has been placed in the Society's records. The Officers thanked the Executors and Trustees at the time, of course, but with a gift of this munificence you, Mr President, may wish to move that we record our thanks formally in full meeting. [The President at this moment proposed that the Society's thanks to the Executors and to the Trustees of Blackwell Memorial Fund should be recorded. This was carried with acclamation. ) Council has no more, and certainly no less, trouble than ereryone else in Western Europe in judging sensible ways of handling finances in today's uncertain economy. Ten years ago we were planning in 4-5 year strategic cycles, we could make tactical adjustments each year, and when we looked back over each period we found that forecasts and results matched each other pretty well. Today the information needed for this sort of rational planning just doesn't exist. I think that we need to face this quite clearly. We have to make the best judgements we can on uncertainties, and we feel much less confident in forecasting as a result. I think that members will find it convenient if I present a factual report on the completed accounts for the year as a separate item first, then we can go on to crystal balls and Council's actions about the future . Accounts for the year 1974 This was the year in which inflation really started to bite . The prices and subscr iptions rates had, necessarily, been fixed in the summer of 1973 ; we did this in relation to what we could estimate about likely money movements in 1974. In the event inflation increased at a quite unprecedented rate during the year . Both the Administrative and the Publishing costs increased by over 20%,