Minutes Of The Annual General Meeting Held At The Ywca, Queen Victoria Road, Llanelli, On 13 February 1997.
PRESENT: Mrs.E.Jones (Chairman), R.D.Pryce (Secretary), Mrs.D.Hopkins (Treasurer), and ten members.
APOLOGIES were received from Mrs Mary Williams.
MINUTES of the 1996 Annual General Meeting were adopted and signed after amending a typographic error in the dtae of the Treasurer’s Report.
There were no MATTERS ARISING.
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT: The Chairman reported that attendances to indoor meetings had increased somewhat in the previous season, following the decision to return to the YWCA in its town-centre location. The programme of talks and field meetings had been fascinating and she urged more members to attend in future. She thanked all society members and the committee for their support and work during the past year.
SECRETARY’S REPORT: The Secretary opened by thanking the Chairman for her statement and continued by outlining the society’s activities over the past year which had consisted of six indoor meetings and eight field meetings. In spite of a slight improvement in attendances, the situation was still a cause of concern and the scretary urged members to make every effort to support the society, particularly when guest lecturers and excursion leaders were engaged. The future programme was very varied and covered many diverse subjects.There had been two editions of the Newsletter and the secretary thanked the the production team including Ian Morgan and all contributers, EDS for photocopying gratis and to the distributers. The Llanelli Naturalists Bulletin no.2 appeared in August and had nearly sold-out with copies going as far afield as Germany. Its content continues the tradition of ‘meaty’ articles pioneered in the old Newsletter and of particular note was the paper on Willows in Carmarthenshire by Dr George Hutchinson. The Hon.Editor, Ian Morgan, is always anxious to receive articles suitable for publication in the Bulletin. 1996 will be remembered for many years to come for the grounding of the Sea Empress in February, spilling thousands of tonnes of oil which polluted the Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire coasts and had devastating consequences for the sea-bird populations, particularly the Carmarthen Bay scoters. The incident had prompted an unprecidented programme of research and monitoring which hopefully will prepare us better for any similar events in the future. The Llanelli Millennium Coastal Park project had been successful in attracting funding from the Millennium Commission and already an environmental staement had been commissioned with a view to integrating all interests and inparticular promoting the nature conservation aspects of the scheme. This dovetailed with progress towards management of the Pembrey Saltings Local Nature Reserve where Sea Buckthorn clearance was now underway. The society’s publicity officer, John Taylor, had moved to Pembrokeshire and the secretary warmly thanked him for his very valuable contribution over the years. Philip Jones had taken over some of John’s tasks and had also, as usual, organised the society’s exhibit at the Llanelli Flower Festival but a volunteer was needed to take over. Co-operation between the Llanelli Naturalists and the Llanelli Section of the Dyfed Wildlife Trust continues to grow with an increase in the number of joint meetings. Jan Crowden, secretary of the Trust Section had also been nominated for Vice-chairmanship of the Llanelli Naturalists (see below). The Secretary concluded by thanking all those involved in the running of the Llanelli Naturalists and also all those supporters without whom the society could not function.
TREASURER'S REPORT: The audited accounts which were adopted by those present, are presented below. There had been a loss over the year of £232.47 as a result of a loss of £85.05 incurred in the production of Bulletin No.2, the cost of hiring the room at the YWCA (previously, use of the WWT centre was gratis) and fall in subscription receipts. Membership stands at 99 (counting family members as one). After discussion from the floor it was resolved to retain present subscription levels for 1997 but the members present voted authority to the treasurer to raise subscriptions from January 1998 if required which would then be ratified at the 1998 AGM.
RESERVE REPORTS
Lliedi Reservoirs (Mike Williams) It had been a quiet year. Neither Great Crested Grebes or Pied Flycatchers had bred and tit breeding success had been poor due to the cold spring. The Badgers had been successful. Regrettably, the hon warden had had to give up nest-box maintenance which required the use of a double-extension ladder to clean-out the forty boxes and he appealed for volunteers to continue with this task. He will, however, continue to record bird and badger numbers and breeding. It was suggested from thre floor that a school project might be a way of maintaining the momentum and a notice appealinf or volunteers should also be posted at WWT Penclacwydd.
Stradey Estate (Ian Morgan) No report.
Factory Road, Pembrey (Frank Webb) The secreatary reported that the floral interest continued although no management was being undertaken. Bloody Cranesbill continued to flourish despite disturbance by car-park works.
Ffrwd Fen (Philip Jones) Richard Jenkins is continuing his research into the Water Rails, he had seen Bittern and Marsh Harrier during the year. Management continues to pose a problem with under-grazing resulting in both Waun cae Philip and Ty-mawr fields becoming substantially more rank with the encroachment of rush and reed respectively. The grazier had cut a wide swathe through the Marsh Pea area, without authority, resulting in the destruction of several monitoring quardats. Only one dip-well remains in tact, therefore water level monitoring is now confined to observations made in ditches and at ground surface. The hon warden proposed to hand-cut a path adjacent to the sinuous ditch running north through the site in the near future.
Both the chairman and secretary thanked the hon.wardens for their efforts duting the year.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Since the death of Mrs I.M.Vaughan, several years ago, the Society had been without a patron. With the development of the Welsh National Botanic Garden at Middleton near Carmarthen, the Naturalists’ committee had proposed that ithe garden’s new Director, Prof.Charles Stirton, be asked to take-on the role. The secreatry had, so far, been unable to obtain an answer but would persue the matter. As the number of nominations for officers and committee members were less than the number of vacancies, the following were elected unopposed: Dr.Philip Jones (Chairman), Mrs.Jan Crowden (Vice-chairman), Mr.Richard Pryce (Secretary), Mrs.Diana Hopkins (Treasurer). Committee members: Mrs.Kath Cottingham, Mrs.Edith Jones, Messrs.Ian Morgan, Barry Stewart and Rob Hunt. Dyfed Wildlife Trust Observer: Steve Lucas. Several suggestions came from the floor for absentee members to fill unoccupied committee places.
OTHER BUSINESS: 1. Stewart Lewis had volunteered to help with Newsletter distribution. 2.Geoffrey Williams volunteered to post programme sheets in Ammanford, Llandeilo and Llandovery. 3. There was discussion as to which room at the YWCA should be hired for future meetings: the smaller room (£8) was accepted.
The meeting closed at 8.30pm and was followed by slides shown by Philip Jones and Richard Pryce.
