Autumn 09 AGM and Paper-reading Session

University of Sussex 11–13 September 2009

Local secretary – David Streeter, John Maynard Smith Building, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG (e d.t.streeter @ sussex.ac.uk)

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The 2009 Autumn Paper-reading Meeting and AGM of the Society will be held at the University of Sussex from 11 th. to 13 th. September. The meeting will also provide the Society with the opportunity to celebrate the 80 th. birthday of Jean Paton MBE. The papers will therefore have an hepatic and conservation theme, including appreciations of Jean’s career, and the Saturday evening dinner will be held in her honour.

The Annual General Meeting will be held at 4.00 p.m. on Saturday 12 September. The Annual Report 2008 is enclosed in the current edition of Field Bryology, No 98.

Contributors to the paper-reading session will include:

Sam Bosanquet; Professor Barbara Crandall-Stotler; Professor Jeff Duckett; Dr. Dave Genny; Dr. Mark Hill; Dr. David Holyoak; Dr. David Long; Dr. Chris Preston and Gordon Rothero.

Conversazione following Saturday evening dinner

Sunday Field Excursion

The Sunday field meeting will be to Wakehurst Place and Tilgate Wood SSSI and reserve at the invitation of the RBG Kew. Tilgate Wood is one of the best examples of Sussex sand rock woodlands. Entry will be free and we will be welcomed by Andy Jackson, the Head of Wakehurst.

The total cost of the whole conference, including two nights accommodation and the conference dinner, is £164 15. This also includes the conference fee of £5. Accommodation is single en suite rooms situated in the centre of campus.

Booking forms, to be completed by Friday 4 th. September, are available from David Streeter (see below).

Parking permits and maps of campus will be issued on receipt of booking forms.

David Streeter (Local Secretary)

John Maynard Smith Building , University of Sussex , Brighton , BN1 9QG

T. 01273 877306 email: D.T.Streeter@sussex.ac.uk

Spring Field meeting 2010,

South Lincolnshire / East Nottingham 17 - 24 March 2010

Local Secretaries – Robin Stevenson, 111, Wootton Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 4DJ (ecrs111@talktalk.net) and Jonathan Graham.

This meeting will explore some of the under worked terrain in two vice-counties, viz. South Lincolnshire (vc 53) and Nottinghamshire (vc 56). We have decided to try and be reasonably ‘carbon conscious’ and restrict recording to within (roughly) a 30 mile radius of Newark. Although a lowland area there is some variation in the geology, with a ridge of Jurassic limestones separating the Triassic and Liassic lowlands of the Trent basin to the west from more acidic lower Cretaceous sands, and the recent sediments of the Fens, to the east.

This meeting should be especially attractive to relative beginners, who will not be too challenged by difficult genera such as Sphagnum, nor by a multiplicity of tiny liverworts. There will, however, be opportunities for the experienced too, to pick up new vice-county records and help fill in gaps.

We have decided on Newark as our centre of operations. There is, unfortunately, no field centre or college in the area able to offer us both cheap accommodation and lab facilities; however, there is a wide range of accommodation available in the town itself, and in the surrounding area. We also hope to be able to book some rooms in Newark for evening microscope work – though that will depend on the costs involved.

Newark, which is just off the A1, has good road and rail connections to most other parts of the country. It is quite compact, and has a good range of eating-places, as well as a castle, churches and a river frontage, which might be bryologically productive.

The North Muskham Travel Lodge just off the A1, some 4 km north of Newark itself, probably offers the cheapest accommodation in the area. Rooms can be as cheap as £19.00 a night, if booked sufficiently far in advance; they do not, however, include breakfast or other meals. Most of the larger hotels in Newark are in the £50 – 60 a night bracket, for a single room, but prices drop appropriately for B & Bs, and in the surrounding villages. Those on a restricted budget would be well advised to book early. A list of accommodation can be obtained from the local Tourist Information Centre www.visitnewarkandsherwood.co.uk ; as well as from www.bedandbreakfast-directory.co ; www.britinfo.net/index_Newark.htm ; www.4Hotels.co.uk ; www.information-britain.co.uk/hoteltowns.cfm?town=Newark&county=12