East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists’ Society – 20 March 2020 – Letter from the President

Dear Member

I am writing to you to you to express concern about the present position. We face, as you know, a grave situation where life seems to be closing down around us. Who would have believed a month ago that we would have museums closed, the Boat Race and the Grand National cancelled!

We were to have had a Council meeting this evening but responding to government guidelines we decided not to hold it but the office bearers have had some discussion via telephone and “virtual” Minutes will be collated and distributed to Council members. I am sadly writing to tell you that we feel we should put the majority of our programme on hold for the foreseeable future. So;

  1. The Dinner proposed for 17th April is postponed until a possible date in the Autumn.
  2. The AGM was proposed for 9th of May. We will try to do the business by e mail, Skype or more probably telephone conferencing.
  3. An outing to the Farne Islands on the 20th June. is now not likely to be possible and so we are cancelling it.
  4. We will revue the rest of our provisional programme in May in the light of UK and international events.
  5. We are continuing to work on the Transactions.
  6. We have set up a Members’ Forum on the website and are encouraging members to make short contributions of 500 to 600 words with images. If you have something you would like to contribute please contact Arran. Johnston arran_johnston@hotmail.com It is easy to use the web site; just type in the name of the Society and you will find it.
  7. Obituary It is with sorrow that I intimate the death of Ailsa Maxwell, a long term former member, on the 10th February and of Rennie Weatherhead, member and former member of the Council of the Society, on March 10. Obituary notices have been posted.

I hope that the world situation will improve so that we can soon resume normal service.

Best wishes

Stephen Bunyan

By eastlothianantiquarians

The East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists’ Society, established in 1924, is a membership organisation and a charity. Member events include outings and a copy of the Transactions for just £15/annum. We also welcome short contributions from members for the website.