Annual Report 2001

THE CHAIRMAN'S REVIEW

The highlight of the programme was the Christmas lecture given by Professor Sir Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal. At this event our guests included Lady Glass, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Professor Glynis Breakwell, the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath and Marion McNeir, Charter Mayor of Bath.

The Annual Report for 2001-2 shows the Institution striving successfully to fulfil its mission with a lively programme of high quality lectures and discussions, being a forum for public debates, while considerable progress is being made towards making the Collections more accessible to the public and researchers. These achievements are due mainly to the volunteers who give unstintingly of their time and experience and to whom the Institution owes many thanks.

Although progress continues there have been some significant changes. A new lease has been negotiated with the Training Services whereby the Institution will receive an increased rent, back dated to January 2001. This means that there is now more money to meet the core costs of running BRLSI, but there is still need to recruit more members. The new lease will last until January 2005 and includes giving BRLSI the use of the small conference room on the first floor on Fridays.

The long running story of the Institution's claim against the former Avon County Council reached a climax in November 2001 when a compromise settlement was reached, although the money due, plus interest, was not paid to BRLSI until April 2002. After expenses are met the Institution will have £600,000 to invest to provide for the refurbishment of the building when Training Service's lease expires, to ensure that there is more money to preserve the listed building and a modest expansion of activities. The Institution is grateful to those who did the original researches which made it possible to pursue the claim and to the London solicitors, Bates, Wells and Braithwaite who negotiated the settlement.

In view of the BRLSI's improving financial position the Trustees set up an Ad Hoc Group under the chairmanship of David Beaugeard, a Trustee, to propose developments for the Institution which would enable it to fulfil better its mission. The group reported to the Trustees in March that there was an immediate need to improve the image of the Institution; hence the request for a more "snappy" name! The report also recommended that a second Ad Hoc Group to plan the use of the building after January 2005 be established, and while regularly reporting to the Trustees, it should seek professional advisers and practitioners so that plans could be implemented immediately in early 2005. Thus the disruption to the activities of BRLSI could be kept to a minimum. These plans are at an early stage and the Trustees would welcome members' ideas about the future use of the building, remembering that it will still be necessary to have tenants.

The Management Committee is already implementing the proposals in the first report. By the time you receive this Annual Report you will have been aware of the scaffolding encasing the building so that windows could be repainted. Other improvements should be seen during the coming year. In addition Paul Birkeland-Green has been engaged to update our web-site and progress the creation of a virtual museum. The Report also supported the Trustees' suggestion that a second part-time administrator should be appointed to give members and the public more access to the Institution. Since May we have welcomed Angela Reichardt to job share the role of Administrator with Brenda Vicary-Finch.

The new staffing arrangement in the office means that we rarely need to call on volunteers there. We thank Joy Whalley very much for five years of devoted and reliable service in the office on Mondays.

Last year the Chairman reported that the part-time curator, Paul Elkin, was moving to Suffolk. He has remained as our curatorial adviser. A presentation was made to him at the New Year Party to thank him for his years of service and we hope soon to have a new curator in post.

When John Coates resigned as Hon. Secretary we not only thanked him for all his efforts on behalf of the Institution but realised that he had been doing more than enough work for two people. It was therefore decided to appoint a Hon. Secretary to the Trustees and a separate Secretary to the Management Committee. We have welcomed Angela Ould as Hon. Secretary while Andy Pepperdine, a Trustee, services the Management Committee.

There have also been a number of changes among the nominated Trustees. Professor Edward Fraenkel, representing the Royal Society and Professor Jeff. Thompson, one of the University of Bath nominees, came to the end of their terms of service and were replaced by Dr. William Brooks (RS) and Professor John Toland (UB). Later Professor David Dinely (West of England Geologists' Association) and Professor Chris Budd (University of Bath) resigned, to be replaced by Dr. Cherry Lewis (GA) and Professor Darryl Almond (UB). We thank all departing Trustees for giving the Board their wisdom and experience and extend a warm welcome to the newcomers.

Finally a major change this year was the resignation in March of Chairman of Trustees, Dr. Jennifer Gunning, who considered that the pressure of her work was detracting from her role as trustee and Chairman. Since the Trustees elected me Chairman in her place I have come to appreciate even more than before the debt the Institution owes to her wise leadership, especially when pursuing the claim against the former Avon County Council.

In September 2003 the revived BRLSI will be ten years old. Thanks to all involved much has been achieved which can be celebrated. With the Institution's improved financial position we can prepare and plan for more opportunities to expand the work to fulfil better our mission to be a cultural centre for Bath and the surrounding area, as well as enabling national and international access to our collections.

Nancy Catchpole

THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

This has been a fairly solid year of activity. John Coates has retired from the Management Committee and we thank him for his enormous input and his expertise in practical matters. We welcome Andy Pepperdine as the new secretary to the Committee.

On the tenant front our main occupants in the top half of the main building (Bath Training Services) have renewed for another three years at an increased rent. This has enabled us to double our administrative staff to now cover the office full time and we are delighted that Angela Reichardt has joined Brenda Vicary-Finch in looking after our administrative duties. As well as bringing a wealth of administrative experience she brings expertise in Real Tennis!

In the Moore Room, Red Central remain with us and we have to resolve with them repairs to the roof lantern in the future as it is not in good condition. We have undertaken some repairs to the floor of the entrance lobby to the Moore Room. As you may have noted the exterior paintwork is deteriorating and the work has been put out to tender and this will now be carried out by Gregory Thains under the supervision of Bob Goodman of Brooks Chartered Surveyors. As well as re-painting, some remedial work to dormer windows in our valley gutter will be undertaken. Volunteers are clearing out our cellars ( 6 in total ) and we will review the space and their condition before deciding what to do with the space and whether it is worth tanking them.

The Finance Committee recommended changing our gas supplier and this has now been done. Our Audio-Visual infrastructure for talks has been strengthened by the addition of some more audio equipment. We are seeing more use of our data projector for Powerpoint presentations with laptop computers. This is an Achilles heel as far as our equipment goes, we only have one of these as opposed to three slide projectors. We will be looking at some grant proposals in co-operation with some of our visiting societies. The Callow Trust have kindly provided some funds for a loop amplifier for the hard of hearing and this is being installed.

As we now have full time cover in the office it is likely that the number of daytime meetings in our front room will increase and so we have installed blinds in the front room to help with slide projection and also in the office where a westerly facing window caused problems with computer screens in the afternoons

Some work was undertaken by Rodney Tye to make sure that the more senior of our volunteers were covered by our insurance. There has been some escapology by insurance companies in this area highlighted locally by the potential decimation of the Mayor's Honorary Guides. Our building has been re-valued for insurance purposes and to increase the security of some of our collections two secondhand fire-proof cabinets have been obtained and installed. Paul Birkeland-Green has been retained for further work on the web site and our e-mail Bulletin continues to have an increasing circulation.

Enough thanks cannot be given to all our volunteers who carry out a vast variety of tasks for BRLSI with great dedication, expertise and enthusiasm.

Bob Draper

SUB-COMMITTEES

COLLECTIONS

Our curator, Paul Elkin, moved to Bury St. Edmunds during the autumn. He has kindly offered to remain as our curatorial consultant until we have a new curator. As a token of appreciation Paul was presented with an antique print of the old Institution building at this year's new year party. At the time of writing (July) the curator's post is about to be advertised.

The sub-committee now meets monthly to bring it in line with other sub-committees. A rotating agenda dedicated to conservation, documentation, and presentation, in succeeding months ensures meetings are more focussed.

The conservators are still working to restore the Casali paintings. Delay has been caused by other work for the National Trust taking priority. We now hope to have the ceiling paintings reinstated in the Pink Room early in 2003.

The Adopt-a-Book scheme continues, and slowly but surely the more dilapidated volumes are being restored. Cleaning and minor repairs to other volumes has been undertaken by John Lewis and Judy Partridge.

Dawn Hodgson has been identifying and documenting human remains unearthed at local archaeological sites. They were previously in a muddle because they had lost their labels, or had been labelled incorrectly. By reference to published accounts and careful matching of material she has been able to bring some order out of chaos.

Sheila Metcalf and Trudy Wallace are continuing their translation and transcription work for the Fox Talbot Museum, and have also found time to transcribe ms. notes and correspondence in Harry Mingden Scarth's own interleaved copy of his book Aquae Solis. Scarth was a local antiquary who published papers in the proceedings of the Bath Field Club, the Somerset Archaeological Society, and in national journals. These notes are important archive items and include numerous drawings of artefacts, inscriptions and excavations.

Computer documentation is making good progress. Sue Cowdry's minerals catalogue is complete, as is the catalogue of the Moore collection of fossils. Adrian Brain is cataloguing the Lonsdale collection. William Lonsdale was also a geologist and was the Institution's first curator. Sue and Adrian are also designing a minerals display for the Virtual Museum. This will be a comprehensive account of the mineral world illustrated by numerous specimens from our collections.

Denise Cusick and Jude Harris are cataloguing items from the ethnology collection. They are starting with the items for which we have digital images. The catalogue was designed by Martin Leyland who designed a similar catalogue for Durham Castle Museum.

Rosemarie Davies has completed the library catalogue. In this task she has been helped by Peggy Freeman and by Binh Vo, an American student spending his internship at Bath Spa University College. About 75% of the library has been classified according to the Dewey system. When this is completed the library will be sorted into subject order.

Jane Coates, Letitia Holt and Sali Dening continue their accessioning of the ever growing archives, but they are still in need of volunteers to transfer data to computer.

We have applied for registration as a museum under phase 2 of the national registration scheme. To be eligible we have had to develop a formal acquisitions and disposals policy. Although shortage of space currently limits any significant expansion of our collections, it is hoped that this situation will improve following refurbishment in 2005.

Robert Randall

FINANCE

The accounts for this year show a significant turnaround in our position. Net current assets (subject to audit) show a favourable figure of £43,227. Income is £97971 and Expenditure £53051. Two major factors have brought this about. Two long standing creditor items have been deleted due to expiry of time. But principally our rental income has increased as a new lease was agreed with our main tenants dated back to January 2001 at £55,000 per annum.

Although expenditure on our premises has been modest and within budget, we have a major outgoing due for the exterior of the building in redecoration. This cost will absorb a major part of the surplus shown by the pie charts which follow. There has been some reduction in fees for curatorial services, but we have a new modest commitment for maintenance of our web-site, and related matters.

In the notes to the accounts there will be reference to the monies received from the winding up of Avon County Council following the reports of the District Auditor in January 1997. Some of these funds will have to be earmarked for essential work on our premises prior to any re-letting in early 2005. The rest, at present planned, will form a reserve fund for premises and contingencies.

Richard Farrow from Bath University Administrations Department has provided invaluable and professional help with our accounts. Next financial year he will be handing over to Karen Toogood, a colleague. We are most grateful.

The broad thrust of our day to day budgeting will continue on similar lines.

Rodney Tye

INCOME £97,971

EXPENDITURE £53,051

PUBLICITY

Publicity has involved some familiar and some novel aspects this year.

Press coverage in reports and articles about BRLSI activities continues to be good, thanks particularly to Betty Suchar and Bob Draper. Plans to give our Christmas Lecture a higher profile, by inviting dignitaries and senior staff in local firms and organisations to attend as our guests, were very successful.

BRLSI continues to be represented on the B&NES Museums Education Forum. Our event for B&NES Heritage Open Week in October 2001 was a "Modelling Competition", based on the books of Dick King Smith, that brought young and older visitors into BRLSI for a session on a Sunday afternoon. Graham Harrison, Betty Suchar and Jill Wright helped with the arrangements and on the day.

We are also members of the B&NES Museums Forum - a body with more senior representatives from each Museum. Here, a variety of matters are discussed of relevance to the city and district. Together with the Museum of Asian Art, BRLSI was instrumental in taking forward a much delayed "up-date" of information about the finger-posts which are used by the majority of tourists to find their way around the city. Officers had had limited time to address this subject since it was first raised several years ago, and the responsibilities of the various departments were not entirely clear. Building on a list of signs produced by B&NES, the posts were surveyed; the condition, accuracy and relevance of the signs were recorded; and B&NES have been provided with a 36 page detailed document. This can be used for assessing future needs and capacity for further signs for any museums interested.

The BRLSI Jubilee Soiree on 12 June included an exhibition of Royal and Jubilee memorabilia arranged by Rob Randall; china items lent by Patricia Tye were of particular interest. A Visual Presentation of the Institution's History in "Powerpoint" format, prepared by Jean Brushfield, was displayed on the screen for those attending to watch during the evening, and this with the exhibited items formed the basis of a quiz to test the concentration of those attending. The numbers attending were pleasing, exceeding those at the members' meeting held a month earlier.

Jean Brushfield

WEB-SITE

During 2002, the Institution's web-site has been expanded to represent more fully the variety of activities that take place at BRLSI. In addition to the full diary of events and the Proceedings, additional material is now online that is of interest to members and visitors alike,and once again visits to our web-site are up again this year. The increased presence is also helping as a publicity, and membership tool. This year's 'make-over' of the web-site sets out to show the very nature of the Institution's activities; the people who make it, and the many contributions and endeavours that make the Institution what it is. 2002 has also seen the instigation of the online 'Virtual Museum', a project that has been underway since 1997. Hopefully this ongoing project will develop and continue to make the artefacts in the Collection more accessible to all.

Paul Birkeland-Green

THE INSTITUTION'S PROGRAMME

We have had our usual busy year, with the total number of events being 236, compared with 237 last year, which was particularly active due to the millennium series. We put on 121 of our own (138 last year), and attracted 115 (99 last year) from outside bodies.

The bulk of the events we have staged have, as usual, been the regular monthly discussion groups, even though the French civilisation has been reduced this year to an occasional group only, and we are again thankful to the conveners for maintaining the range and numbers of these talks. The Herschel Astronomy group has moved from Saturday mornings to an evening slot and now has more people attending than before.

The premises continue to be used for important civil debates. This year we hosted a series on the future of Bath, under the title of A vision for Bath, and also pulled together a number of the interests in the Western Riverside Project, including Don Foster, Bath's MP. This year, Bath Taps into Science, the regular science fair in Green park, received an award from the Institute of Physics for encouraging science among the young.

Some of the lunchtime meetings and lectures have attracted good numbers, but others less so. However, they have been sufficiently successful to ensure that the series will continue as it tends to attract a different audience from the evening talks.

There have been two artists' exhibitions in the ground floor room, and the external bookings continue to be strong.

We are very fortunate in recruiting Angela Reichardt, who has joined the administrative staff as this means we should be able to manage more events and improve our publicity to increase attendances further.

Programme Sub-committee

BRLSI EVENTS DURING THE PERIOD SEPTEMBER 2001 TO AUGUST 2002

LECTURES

October 18 Germany Today Hendrik Bebber
Jointly with Bath German Society & Economics Group.
Sponsored by the German Embassy.

October 24 JOHN WOOD LECTURE (arranged by Victor Suchar)
A Critical Look at the Design of Millennium
Buildings Prof. Patrick Hodgkinson

November 27 A Century of Submarine Design
Jointly with Institute of Physics Prof. Griethuysen

November 28 From Conception to resurrection: The Science
and Art of the Human Body
Prof. Colin Blakemore
Jointly with British Association, Western Branch

December 3 Lord Byron and Albania Prof. Afrim Karagjozi
Sponsored by British Academy and Waterstones Bookshop

December 14 CHRISTMAS LECTURE (arr. by Victor Suchar)
The Beginning and the End of the Universe
Prof. Sir Martin Rees
Jointly with Herschel Society

January 16 The British: Reluctant Europeans
Prof. R. Worcester

February 6 The Life and Times of Leonard Jenyns
(arr. by Paul Elkin) Roger Vaughan

February 15 'The Grand Complication' Allen Kurzweil
introduced by Prof Jollyon Howorth

March 6 'Salamander' Thomas Wharton
Jointly with Bath Literature Festival

April 19 The Media at War (arr. by Geoff Catchpole)
Prof. T. Traverse-Healy

June 20 The Private Sector and Society (arr. by Rodney Tye)
Roger Hayes

July 18 Interplanetary Robots Randii Wessen
Jointly with Herschel Society

PUBLIC MEETINGS

March 1 Western Riverside Project (arr. by Victor Suchar)
chair: Don Foster, MP
Bryan Green, Landscape Estates
Chris Cavanagh, B&NES
Richard Fielden, Fielden Clegg Bradley Design
David Thurlow, CPRE

Vision of Bath Don Lovell

September 14 Bath in the 21^st Century Clive Thomas

October 5 Bath: A Place to Live, Work and Play
Anthony Crombie

October 31 That Bath need a parish council
chair: David Gledhill

November 2 Bath: A Cultural City Bill Cotton

December 7 Bath: How to Change the City
Clive Thomas & Ian Thompson

DISCUSSION GROUP MEETINGS

Economics Rodney Tye

All the subjects considered have led to wide-ranging discussion, with most members attending making a contribution. Three of the speakers were introduced by other members - a great help.

November 28 Horse racing John Baker

January 31 Personality testing (including handwriting)
by employers Lawrence Warner

February 28 The Compensation Culture
John B. Isherwood

March 28 The General Agreement on Trade and Services Lara Marsh

April 25 Sponsorship
(a) Bath Building Society
(b) Arts and Business South West
(c) Bath Rotary Club

May 31 What skills are needed for business and
apprenticeship?
Robert Gillan & Vanessa Williams

June 27 City Prosperity and Bath's heritage role
Abigail Harrop

July 30 Short debates
(a) Consumer choice
(b) Voters' choice
(c) Independents
(d) Town twinning

French Civilisation Martin Sturge & Anne Whitmarsh

November 19 Political Scandals in France in the 1990s
Dr Hélène Bilger Street

December 19 Christmas Party: La Pastorale de Maurel
Martin Sturge

Herschel Dick Phillips

The Herschel Group is a collaboration between the William Herschel Society (WHS) and the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Society (BRLSI). Its activities are open to the general public.

Its aims are to increase public awareness of the life, work and times of the Herschel family (particularly William and Caroline) through activities which would have been of interest to its members. Naturally, the majority of its activities arise from the family’s involvement in astronomy and therefore the group is also informally known as “the Astronomy Group” though there is no reason why it should not field musical events and talks on photography, botany, etc.

This year is the third in the history of the group which originally met on Saturday mornings. It now meets on the first Friday in each month (except August). Then, it attracted about a dozen followers but this year some 25-35 people have been turning up.

September 7 Being There - Occultations and Eclipses
Dick Phillips and Mike Tabb

October 5 Measuring the Universe Martin Griffiths

November 2 The Cosmos in your Hand - A History of the
Astronomical Teaching Model Kevin Johnson

December 7 Which Telescope? - a guide for what to buy at
Christmas Roger Steer

February 1 The Astronomy of the Ice Ages
Lt-Cdr Allan Comer, MBE. RN.

April 5 Through the Net to the Cosmos Dick Phillips

May 3 Comet and Asteroid - Friend or Foe?
Rod Jenkins

June 7 Astronomy and Astrology - Friends or Foes?
Discussion
Dr Rodney Hillier & Nicholas Campion

A stand was organised at the National Science Week fair in Green Park on March 8 & 9, with a planning meeting in January.

Literature & Humanities Peter Valentine

The average attendance this year was just under 20, but the fees taken were below this. The fee taking system therefore needs to be tightened up and made more obtrusive. These fees can be used to purchase books written by distinguished visiting speakers, to place in the future planned Library. The pattern of discussion was as last year, and the theme of the 20^th century generally adhered to. There were four outside distinguished speakers, all well attended.

September 18 My Favourite Poem
Members Open Forum

October 16 The Philosophy of the Actual
Dr. Malcolm Parlett

November 20 Science Fiction Prof. Helen Haste

January 15 Orwell & Communism John Newsinger

February 19 Patrick White's "Riders in the Chariot"
John Bulman

March 19 Edith Wharton's "Age of Innocence"
Betty Suchar

April 16 Romanticism in England & America
Geoffrey Catchpole

May 21 Robert Musil's "Man without Qualities"
Paul Edwards

June 18 Paul Valery's "Monsieur Teste" Victor Suchar

July 16 Planning meeting for 2003

Philosophy Victor Suchar

From September '01 to July '02 we held eleven meetings, typically consisting of a 50 to 60 minute presentation, followed by an hour discussion with 25 - 35 people participating. Three of the speakers were invited, all the others were BRLSI members or usual participants of the group.

September 4 A. N. Whitehead's "Process and reality"
Victor Suchar

October 2 The Presocratics Geoff Catchpole

November 6 Anatta Doctrine and Western Philosophy
Tony Rawson

December 4 B. F. Skinner and Behaviourism Today
Hugh Thomas

January 8 Bernard Bosanquet's "Morphology of
Knowledge" Tony Waterhouse

February 5 Myth - The Final Phase of Plato's Education
Tim Addey

March 5 The Productive Failure of Foucault's "History of
Sexuality" Dr. Stuart Elden, Warwick University

April 2 Herbert Marcuse's "One Dimensional Man"
Richard Pierce

May 5 The Natural Basis of Moral Philosophy
Dr . Donald Cameron

June 4 The Eye of the Beholder - Aesthetics and
Philosophy Graham Burgess

July 2 Think? A Critical Look at Popular Philosophy
John Bulman

The programme for the remaining of 2002 was established in May '01, and the whole programme for 2003 was established in May '02.

Science Andy Pepperdine

We have had some very good attendances, with the average over 25, and a varied programme. The talk on the Eden Project spawned a visit there in the spring of 2002, arranged by Martin Sturge. A full programme is already in place for the autumn. The session by Dr Roy Jones on Alzheimer's disease raised £80 for the Research Institute for the Care of the Elderly at St. Martin's Hospital, Bath, a charity which specialises in the disease.

September 28 The Primacy of Chinese Invention
Brian McElney

October 26 Development of Light Sources James Hooker

November 23 The Eden Project Peter Thoday

December 20 Is there Life in Lake Vostok? Martin Siegert

January 25 Alzheimer's Disease: many lights - long tunnel
Dr. Roy Jones

February 22 Recovery of Sound from old Recordings
Adrian Tuddenham

April 26 Providing Protection in a Hazardous
Environment Dr. Matt Chinn

June 14 Tsunamis, Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Dr. Philippe Blondel

June 28 Does BSE cause vCJD? Dr. David Brown

July 26 From Gout to AIDS Prof. David Blake

Transport John Earp

We wish to thank John Earp, who is retiring from convening this group, for his efforts in continuing the traditions of the Institution, and welcome in September 2002 Mike Wrigley of the University of West of England.

September 11 Bath Western Riverside Development
Paul White

October 9 Transport as a Global Issue Alistair C Dick

December 11 The Role of Regional Airports Graham Greaves

January 8 The Somerset Coal Canal Adrian Tuddenham

February 12 Trains v Buses: Making the Right Decision
Malcolm Buchanan

March 12 Pedestrianisation: People, Places and
Townscape Ben Hamilton-Baillie

April 10 Congestion Charging in London
Malcolm Murray-Clark

May 14 Car Clubs: The Right Way to Go? Barry Maunder

June 11 A Bath By-Pass: Do we have an Alternative?
Don Lovell

July 9 The Kennet and Avon Canal: Origin, Decline and
Restoration Michael Davis

World Affairs Geoff Catchpole

The nature, development and reaction to globalisation continues to be of concern and a number of speakers have addressed those problems in various ways over the year. One aspect, clustering around the concept of "sustainability", was approached in the autumn, and others in February, March and May. Three lectures to a general audience, but dealing with associated issues, completed the programme for the year. The theme will no doubt continue to be central to our discussions in future, whatever the ostensible topics.

September 21 The Royal Society of Arts and Sustainability
S. Fordham

October 19 Envolve and Sustainability S. Bendle

November 16 Co-operative Futures P. Couchman

February 15 Women and the Future of Afghanistan
N. Catchpole

March 15 The Enlargement of the European Union
Dr. C. Jackson MEP

May 17 The New Imperialism? A. Barkshire

OTHER BRLSI EVENTS

BRLSI Members' Meetings

October 17 Annual General Meeting of the Institution

January 26 New Year's Party

May 11 Half-yearly Information Meeting for Members

Jubilee

June 12 Soire Jean Brushfield

Competitions

October 28 Heritage Event Jean Brushfield
'Babe the Pig' modelling Competition

May 22 A Dream of Bath Martin Sturge
Poetry Competition

Science Fair

March 8 & 9 Bath Taps into Science, in association with
National Science Week, at Green Park Station

DAYTIME MEETINGS

Lunchtime Meetings (arranged by Jean Brushfield)

October 11 How it really was - Life in the Past
Helen-Montague Smith

November 8 The Magic of Water Gardens Martin Sturge

December 13 Weeds and Aliens Robert Randall

January 10 The Art of Bookbinding John Lewis

February 14 Icons of Modern Architecture
Charlotte Baden-Powell

March 14 Working in Gambia Dr. E Poskitt

March 21 Energising Change - Creating what you want
Rachel Brushfield

April 11 Mayor's corps of guides Audrey Woods

April 18 Planning: a new Revolution
Prof. Stephen Crow

May 9 Victorian Voyages: On board Diaries of
Passengers on the s.s. Great Britain
Jenny Gunning

June 13 How to get 3000 miles from a gallon of petrol
Prof. Jos Darling

Saturday Morning Joint Meetings with Herschel Society

October 13, October 27, November 10, November 24, December 8
Astronomy Course Dr Rodney Hillier

Experimental series led by Geoffrey Catchpole

April 13, April 20, June 15, July 20
A short series of discussions on topical issues,
involving cultural interchange, the influence of
the United States of America, monarchy and
republicanism, and Islamic fundamentalism.

VISITS & EXCURSIONS

October 22 Rutherford Appleton Laboratories
Andy Pepperdine

April 13 & 14 Eden Project and Lost Gardens of Heligan
Martin Sturge

July 7 Science Heritage Trail Walk Peter Ford

July 13 The Southern Area Group Astronomical
Societies event at Portsmouth Naval base
Dick Phillips

THE INSTITUTION'S PROCEEDINGS

After the enlarged volume for the Millennium year the 2001 Proceedings resumed their usual length, although a cumulative contents list of all the volumes to date was included.

We were fortunate that Mr and Mrs Edwards volunteered to take on the proof-reading when Dr Frith decided he had to give up that job and it has been possible to spread out the task by sending them batches of reports over the year. The organisers of meetings have made this possible by providing reports quickly after many of the lectures or discussions.

The Proceedings are entered on to our web site where all the past volumes are stored. Paul Birkeland-Green has re-organised the layout of these pages and made it possible to search all the records by various keywords, including author 's name. This makes it easy and quick to find associated reports.

It will also be possible to provide a volume of the Proceedings on a CD-ROM and it would be useful to know how many Members would like to have them in this form instead of as a printed book.

Don Lovell, Editor

THE MEMBERSHIP

Membership of the BRLSI continued to flourish for the year 2001-2002 and at the end of July there was again approaching 500 members, including six Life Members and 16 Benefactors.

The Gift Aid Scheme has been very beneficial and has returned to the Institution a useful sum. Special thanks are due to Members who signed a Gift Aid declaration, which enabled the BRLSI to recover £2000 tax on subscriptions for 2001-2002.

Brenda Vicary-Finch

Membership Secretary

List of members as at 18 September 2002

Benefactors shown in bold.

Mrs. Ruth Abbott

Mrs. D.P. Anderson

Ms. Muriel Anderson

Mr. Philip Andrews

Mr. Maurice Atkins

Mr. Roger Austin

Prof. K. Austwick

Mr. M.F. Avent & Mary Luckwell

Mr. & Mrs. R.V. Babington

Dr. G. David & Mrs. Birgit Baird

Mr. Raymond Bamford

Mr. Thomas Bannister

Ms. Lyn Barham

Mrs. Amy M. Barkshire

Mr. William Barnes

Mr. John H. W. Barrett

Mr. Anthony Battersby & Rachel Fielden

Mr. P.H. Bayliss & P.M. Phillips

Mr. David Beasley

Mr. David Beaugeard

Ms. Susan E. Bell

Mr. Douglas Bernhardt

Miss Ethel Beswick

Mr. Charles & Rev. Patricia Betts

Dr. J.E. Beviss

Mr. M. Bindloss Gibb

Mr. Paul & Mrs. Carol Birkeland-Green

Mrs. A. Bishop

Ms. Mayveen Blackwell

Mr. R. Blunt & Dr. S.E. Day

Mr. Adrian Brain

Mrs. Patricia Brennan

Dr. & Mrs. William Brooks

Mr. & Mrs. R.W. Brown

Mrs. Audrey W. Brown

Mr.Graham S. Brown

Mr. John & Dr. Jean Brushfield

Mr. Patrick C. Bryan

Dr. Bruno Bubna-Kasteliz

Prof. John Grant Buchanan

Mr. John Bulman

Miss Lesley Bunce

Mr. Stuart Burroughs

Mr. Donald Cameron

Mr. Simon & Dr. Suzanne Campbell-Jones

Mr Stephen & Molly Carey

Mr. Philip & Mrs. Kathleen Carr

Mrs. Caroline Carr

Ms. Gillian Carter

Mr. Brian & Mrs. Margaret Cassidy

Mr. Geoff & Mrs. Nancy Catchpole

Mrs. Noaley Cave

Mr. Joseph & Mrs. A. Cheriyan

Mr. David & Mrs. Pamela Clark

Dr. Marianna Clark MB, ChB

Dr. A.K. Clarke

Mr. Cedric Clayton

Mrs. G.D.V.M. Cleary

Dr. Roger & Mrs. Audrey Cloet

Mr. William Close

Mr. & Mrs. J.F. Coates

Prof. Geoffrey E. Coates

Eur Ing S.P. Collins

Mr. C.A. Comyns-Carr

Mr. Simon Connell

Mr. Ken Cookes ACIB, JP

Mrs. Betty Cooper

Ms. Ruth Rose Corbett

Mr. Terry Coulson

Prof. James & Mrs. Patricia Coveney

Mr. Alan & Mrs. Anne Cox

The Lord Craigmyle

Mr. Alec & Mrs. Kate Crawford

Major A.J. Crombie

Mr. & Mrs. R.A. Cross

Mrs. M. Cross

Mr. N.H. Cross BA, MA

Dr. Brian Crossley & Ms. Christine Smith

Mr. P.J.H. Culverwell

Mr. & Mrs. D.J. Curry

Ms. Denise Cusick

Drs. Joan & Cyril Davies

Prof. J. John Davies

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