BLS Annual General Meeting, Natural History Museum, London

To attend in person please email agm@britishlichensociety.org.uk by 14/12/24 saying which days you wish to attend including dinner - and pay for meal as described below. Please also book for online access. Everyone is welcome to come for the Sunday field trip only but we still need an idea of numbers to pass onto the land owner (even though it's a publicly accessible place). They have rules in place for group gatherings that we need to follow.

Venue:

The AGM will be held at the Natural History Museum in London and we very much hope to see many of our members in person as well as Society officers, Trustees and speakers. As in previous years this will be a hybrid meeting. Please look out for e-mails from our member services team concerning updates in these arrangements and instructions.

Dates: 

Friday 10th January – Sunday 12th January 2025.

Transport: 

The nearest Underground station is South Kensington which is in Zone 1 and served by the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines. There are regular bus services given on the Transport for London (TfL) website. From South Kensington it is a short walk to the staff entrance for the Museum in Exhibition Road. If walking is difficult the number 360 bus stops at South Kensington and in Exhibition Rd outside the Science Museum. There is no parking available at the museum.

Accommodation: 

A list of reasonably priced accommodation can be found on a file attached below.

Registration: 

In person: due to increased security at the museum, all attendees must register for the Friday reception and lecture, the AGM and/or the Saturday afternoon talks.

In person registration deadline: 14^th December 2024. Attendees will receive a QR code by email which must be presented on a phone, or on paper, at the staff entrance on Exhibition Road in order to gain admittance. Attendees must also leave via the staff entrance in order to hand in their pass.

Register by sending your first name, surname, email address, any dietary requirements and which day(s) you wish to attend to agm@britishlichensociety.org.uk 

Please note that it is important to register your attendance and that you do NOT come through the public entrance in order to attend meetings.

Online: register by sending your first name, surname and email address to agm@britishlichensociety.org.uk Online registration deadline: 14^th December.

Exhibition:

Exhibits can be put up in the foyer of the Flett theatre from c. 15.30 on Friday ready for viewing at 17.00. These can be viewed during tea breaks etc. until the close of the meeting on Saturday. All exhibits must be removed by 16.30 pm on Saturday.

Please email agm@britishlichensociety.org.uk to book tables or display stands by 14^th December.

Timetable:

Friday 10^th January

17.00 Reception (wine, soft drinks and nibbles) in the foyer of the Flett theatre (up the stairs directly above the staff entrance) where the exhibition will be arranged.

18.00 Swinscow lecture in the Flett theatre.

Silke Werth from the University of Munich will give the 2025 Swinscow lecture on “Genetic diversity and population structure of Lobaria and Sticta species on Atlantic archipelagos”

19.45: Dinner at Bella Italia 60, Old Brompton Rd (10 mins walk from the Museum). The cost of the 3-course meal is £23.95 excluding drinks. Booking is essential.  Please book by emailing agm@britishlichensociety.org.uk with your name(s) and any dietary requirements, and immediately pay by bank transfer to British Lichen Society, sort code 40-52-40, account no. 00012363. Label your payment: <your name>dinner. 

Saturday 11^th January

10:00 am: Coffee will be served in the foyer of the Flett theatre (up the stairs directly above the staff entrance). 

10:30 Annual General Meeting in the Flett theatre.

13:00 Lunch (at own expense). There is a restaurant on the ground floor near the Exhibition Road entrance and numerous restaurants in South Kensington. Please note: packed lunches cannot be eaten in the foyer of the Flett Theatre. There is a ‘picnic area’ in the basement if people wish to bring their own food.

14.30 Winter Meeting in the Flett Theatre

14:30 Introduction by Fay Newbery

14 35: Understanding climate change at a scale relevant to lichens – identifying risks and opportunities. Christopher Ellis Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

15:00 Investigating the effects of ammonia on lichens in a tropical environment. Buddhika Weerakoon  Peradeniya University, Sri Lanka.

15:15 Clean, cool & flowing or dirty, dry & plagued by disasters? Thoughts on past, present and future of habitats for European freshwater lichens. Holger Thüs State Museum of Natural History, Stuttgart.

15:45 Tea break in the Flett Foyer 

16.20 Watching lichens at work – chlorophyll fluorescence in ecophysiology. Rolf Gademann, Würzburg, Germany & T. G. Allan Green, University Complutense, Madrid, Spain 1

16:40 Inspired by interactive maps. A series of short talks by Cassie Laughlin, Ann Claypole & Neil Sanderson.

17.00 Close of meeting and arrangements for Sunday’s field trip.

Sunday 12th January

10.30 am - Post AGM excursion. Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. Meet at the Albert Memorial Hyde Park.

This excursion will enable us to record changes in the lichen flora since Mark Powell visited in 2018. Mark’s 2018 report is available below.

Arrangements for the meeting will be updated here as soon as possible, and after the close of meeting on Saturday.

Access to the NHM collection/Herbarium can be booked for Thursday 9^th, Friday 10^th (10.00–14.00 only) or Monday 13^th. Unfortunately, only a limited number of visitors can be hosted due to ongoing project work. Anyone wishing to visit the collection must contact Gothamie Weerakoon in advance at gothamie.weerakoon2@nhm.ac.uk . If you wish to bring specimens into the collection/herbarium, these must be received by post by 1^st December 2024. They will be frozen at the museum and made available for your visit.

AGM Agenda

Please sign the attendance list and write your own name badge. Please will those

attending online update their displayed name so that they can be recorded as attending.

1. Apologies for absence.

2. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at the University of Nottingham on 20^th January 2024. Please refer to the minutes published in the Summer Bulletin 2024 (n^o 133).

3. Matters arising.

4. Reports of Officers:

4.1. President                                   Fay Newbery

4.2. Treasurer                                   Duncan Wright

4.3. Conservation                            Bryan Edwards

4.4. Data                                          Mary Steer

4.5. Education & Promotions        April Windle & Raymond Griffiths

4.6. Bulletin editor                          Maxine Putnam                                         

4.7. Lichenologist                           Senior Editor Chris Ellis

4.8. Website editor                          Fay Newbery

4.9. Field Meetings Secretary        Graham Boswell

4.10. Librarian                                Theresa Greenaway

4.11. Archivist                                 Mark Seaward

4.12. Herbarium Curator                Richard Brinklow

5. Election of Officers & Trustees.

6. Any other business.

7. Date and place of AGM 2026.