Society Treasurer and Secretary Needed
Thank you to those members who responded to our plea for more volunteers to help run the Society’s activities. Once the details are sorted the extra hands and minds will make these routine tasks much easier to manage.
However, we still have no replacements for our 2 principal vacancies, so here’s a reminder.
Society Treasurer – Mary Jane Steer has extended her term in this office to next March’s AGM while we find a replacement. The systems are all in place for someone to slot easily into this post and Mary Jane can lead the new treasurer through the processes and spreadsheets she has been using. Email her to find out what’s involved at [email protected] .
Council Secretary – The main task for this post is to take the minutes at BNS Council meetings. The meetings take place on Zoom and occur monthly on the first Wednesday of every month except August. Let the Chair know, [email protected] , if you would like to sit in on a meeting to see how the Council functions.
SHARE YOUR LOVELY PHOTOS!
Our New Instagram Account is waiting to display your talents!
If you have a picture to share you can submit it to:
[email protected]
We can’t promise to post every one but we will post as many as we can and will credit the photographer (please let us know who they are!). Be aware that Instagram is a rather squarer format than many social media sites so you might want to compose or crop your picture accordingly. We can also crop it for you if it doesn’t work as submitted.
We can put a caption on your photo so you can tell us what it is and where it was taken if you like.We can also share pictures from other Instagram accounts, so if you know of any then do let us know via the above email address.
If you are already a member of Instagram do consider following our account.We look forward to sharing your pictures.
To view the posts go to @BristolNats on Instagram or click the link on this website footer. You don’t have to join to view the pictures but you need to join to view them in detail and see the captions.
Welcome to our new President!
Rupert Higgins became our new President at the AGM in March. He is a long-term member of BNS and is a professional ecologist with decades of experience. Members will know that he writes Ornithology reports for the Avon Bird Report and the Bulletin but Rupert also writes on botanical and many other ecological topics. He and his partner Dawn Lawrence run Wessex Ecological Consultancy.
Urgently required TREASURER
Mary-Jane Steer writes: I have been doing the job for the past 6 years, and now need to hand it on to a successor. The spreadsheet (devised by my predecessor) is set up to record transactions and produce monthly summaries, and is very straightforward to use . Almost all transactions are carried out online, so there is limited need to visit a bank branch or write a cheque. And being a member of Council is a good way of finding out more about the variety of activities the Society is involved in. If you are interested in finding out more about the role please do contact me. [email protected].
Election of Officers
Officers of the Society and Members are required to stand for re-election annually.
Section Representatives are elected at individual Section AGMs.
Nominations are:
Rupert Higgins: President
Giles Morris: Chairman
Richard Ashley: Acting Hon. Sec.*
Mary-Jane Steer: Acting Hon. Treasurer *
Margaret Fay: Hon. Membership Secretary
David Davies: Hon Bulletin Editor
Jim Webster: Hon. Librarian
Dawn Lawrence: Hon. Proceedings Editor
Post vacant: Hon Archivist
Alex Morss: Hon Publicity Secretary
Members
Ray Barnett
Tim Corner
Steve Nicholls
Section Representatives
Botany: David Hawkins
Geology: Richard Ashley
Invertebrates: Maico Weites
Ornithology: Giles Morris
*Both these posts are vacant
Any member of the Society who would like to stand or wishing to nominate a fellow member for election should inform the Chairman, Giles Morris [07712 398903, [email protected]] as soon as possible.
Vacancy – BNS Secretary This is an opportunity for a member to become part of the Council, help us to maintain the Society’s high standards but also help ensure that we evolve and adapt to changing demands. The secretary would play an active role in the workings and decisions of the Council and, in handling the letters and enquiries to the Society, would be able to develop many interesting and varied contacts.
Good support for the new secretary will be available from those Council members who have been sharing the duties for the past year.
This is a volunteer post. All Council members and Trustees are volunteers.
If you would like an informal chat about the role of secretary, please do contact either Ray Barnett [email protected] or Giles Morris [email protected] .
A warm welcome to the new Editor of Nature in Avon, Dawn Lawrence. Dawn is a graduate botanist with wide experience of all areas of natural history. She also has an interest in Geology. We wish her well in her new post.
Welcome to the BNS website! With grateful thanks to all the BNS members who helped with the production and Pixelfish, Bristol for their design and programming expertise. Thanks to Lesley Cox who started this process and to both Lesley and also Clive Lovatt who wrote our history. (Sadly both of them died before seeing the product of their work come to fruition). Photographs were kindly provided by David Hawkins, Richard Ashley, Lesley Cox, David Davies, Dee Holladay, Libby Houston, Clive Lovatt, Giles Morris, Heather Pring, Martyn Pratt and Maico Weites.