THE BRANCH COMMITTEE

Please contact any Branch Member listed below for further information:

Click here for the latest news on the Committee

		Chairman Mike Gittos 29 Moorfield Road DUXFORD Cambridgeshire CB2 4PP Tel: 01223 833345

		Conservation Officer (Cambridgeshire) Vince Lea

		Conservation Officer (Essex) Richard Bigg 147 Lodge Road Writtle CHELMSFORD Essex CM1 3JB Tel: 01245 423823

		Survey Officer & Recorder CAMBRIDESHIRE RECORDER: Louise Bacon Tel: 01223 263962 ESSEX RECORDER: Rob Smith Tel: 01277 262460

		Treasurer Tony Moverley 43 Thorley Park Road BISHOP’S STORTFORD Hertfordshire CM23 3NG Tel: 01279 506238

		Membership Secretary Jenny Taylor

		Minutes Secretary Louise Bacon

		Publicity & Fundraising Officer POSTION VACANT

		Newsletter Editor Louise Bacon

		Committee Members Guy Manners Zoë Ringwood Kathryn Dawson

		Moth Recorder (Cambridgeshire VC29) John Dawson Lodge Farm Babraham Road FULBOURN Cambridgeshire CB21 5HR Tel: 07810 770300

		Moth Recorder (Huntingdonshire VC31) * Barry Dickerson 27 Andrew Road Eynesbury St Neots Cambridgeshire PE19 2QE

		Moth Recorder (Essex VC18 & VC19) * David Allen 33 Old Forge Road Layer-de-la-Haye COLCHESTER Essex CO2 0JT

( * indicates a non-committee member )

COMMITTEE NEWS

SITUATION FILLED - Survey Officer

Following Paul parmenter's departure as Branch Survey Officer, Rob Smith and Louise Bacon are happy to become recorders for each county; Rob Smith has kindly agreed to take on the role of Essex butterfly recorder while Louise will look after Cambridgeshire records. Tony Moverley will assist with data input and Mapmate issues.
July 2010

SITUATION VACANT - Survey Officer

Paul Parmenter is stepping down from his 2 year stint as Survey Officer, having moved to Somerset earlier in the year and we offer our congratulations to him on becoming Assistant Warden at the RSPB's West Sedgemoor reserve.
Anyone who feels that they might be able to help in anyway is asked to come forward and speak to a committee member about what's involved and how they might like to help. More details will appear in the June 2010 newsletter
June 2010

SITUATION VACANT - Publicity and Fundraising Officer

We are sorry to report that Kathryn Dawson (nee Grumball) has stepped down from the Publicity & Fundraising Officer role. However, we are please to see that she will continue to stay on the committee, albeit without a specific role.
May 2010

NEW COMMITTEE MEMBER

We are pleased to welcome John Dawson back onto the committee after an absence of 11 years. Questions regarding Cambridgeshire lepidoptera and wider conservation issues seem to arise at most meetings so it's good to have him 'back on board'. Thanks John.
November 2009

SITUATION FILLED - Membership Secretary

We are delighted to report that Hilary Conlan has volunteered to become Membership Secretary, replacing Caroline Watson who stood down at the AGM held in Sept 2009.
Thanks also go to Guy Manners who has recently joined the committee as an ordinary member.
September 2009

COMMITTEE CHANGES - Robin Field is retiring as Branch Organiser

Robin Field has announced his intention to step down as Branch Organiser at the end of 2009 after many years of devoted service. Fantastic effort Robin and many thanks from all on the committee and Branch.
What does being Branch Organiser involve? Essentially, attending committee meetings (up to 6 a year) and the AGM, and being the main Branch contact with BC Head Office and the outside world. If you think you might be able to help, please contact the Branch chairman Mike Gittos (contact details here) January 2009
Mike Gittos, a very long standing Branch and committee member, has kindly stepped forward to fill the role of Chairman, vacated by Carl Blamire at the 2008 AGM. Many thanks Mike.
This creates a vacancy on the committee for an ordinary member. All we would ask is your input 4 - 6 meetings a year. Please contact Mike Gittos if you feel that you have something to offer.

Louise Bacon, already filling the role of Newsletter Editor, has also kindly agreed to take on the role of Minutes Secretary, replacing Pat Poole who was greatly admired for her ability to record the ramblings of many committee meetings straight onto her laptop! We'll miss you Pat and thanks go to Louise.

Also, Caroline Watson is standing down as our Membership Secretary at the next AGM in September 2009. So, we need someone to be the contact point for sending out things to new members as they join the branch - a simple but valuable role, and we would like to thank Caroline for doing the job over the past few years.

January 2009

SITUATION FILLED - Survey Officer

The Branch is pleased to report that Paul Parmenter has kindly stepped forward to fill the role being vacated by long standing committee member Val Perrin as Survey Officer for the two counties. Paul will be shadowing Val during the 2008 season, ready to take on the role when Val formally steps down at the 2008 AGM. Thanks Paul.
May 2008

SITUATION FILLED - Conservation Officer for Essex

We are delighted to report that Richard Bigg has volunteered to be the new Conservation Officer for Essex. Richard started a new transect at Thrift Wood in 2007 (where the Branch's significant conservation efforts help support a population of Heath Fritillary) and we look forward to a long and fruitful association. Thanks Richard!
January 2008

SITUATION VACANT - Survey Officer

Big changes in the committee structure can be expected next year.
Val Perrin will be standing down as Survey Officer at the 2008 AGM, after 15 years of sterling service. Val maintains and collates all the butterfly records for the two counties. This includes everything from what members see in their back gardens over each summer to the detailed data sets from Transect Walkers. All this date has to be compiled and submitted to head office during the winter months, in time for various atlasing projects and other outputs that make their way into reports to government and other bodies. There is also a role in supplying information at planning enquiries, particularly where sensitive species may be involved.
Val of course played a key role in the recent 'Butterflies of Cambridgeshire' book, researching and writing all the history sections for the species descriptions as well as the distribution notes etc. As if that wasn't enough, Val has a wide-ranging interest in all aspects of natural history and maintains records for Cambridgeshire's Bat and Dragonfly societies. 2008 will see the start of a major new National atlasing project for Dragonflies, which will no doubt be extremely interesting with the spread of various new species in England, and this will undoubtedly take up a lot more of his time!
The number of butterfly records received by the Branch has steadily increased over the years, as have the number of transects. With the merger of BMS transects with BC transects last year, to generate the UKBMS, transect records doubled and it would make sense for two volunteers to come forward; to create two posts, one for each aspect of the recording carried out by the Branch.
We urge anyone who might be interested in this vital part of the Branch activities to come forward as soon as possible, so they could shadow Val during 2008 and find out which aspects of the role might be suitable for them, and hopefully achieve a smooth transition.
October 2007

Conservation Officer for Essex

Kathryn Grumball is moving to Cambridgeshire and would like someone else to take on the Essex sites as conservation officer for the Branch.
Kathryn is prepared to put her energies into publicity and promoting the Branch, something that will doubtless be crucial in the charity's 40th year, so we thank her heartily for that and offer appreciation of her brief existence as conservation officer for Essex!
October 2007

New Conservation Officer for Essex & New Membership Secretary

We are delighted that Kathryn Grumball has agreed to take on the role on Conservation Officer for Essex.
We are also able to report that Caroline Watson has kindly agreed to take over from Michelle Gardiner as Membership Secretary. Both appointments were approved at our AGM held on Saturday 4th November 2006.
September 2006 (and amended November 2006)

Michael Chinery - Retiring as President

We are sad to say Michael has decided to stand down as President of the branch after many years. Michael was one of the founder members of the branch back in 1984 and so has been active with us for over 21 years. I’m sure the branch will want to thanks Michael for all his hard work and time he has put in over that period. Well done Michael and thanks for all the effort, have a good retirement and keep in touch.
January 2006

Thanks to Carl Blamire

The committee would like to thank Carl for his many years service as Conservation Officer. During that period Carl has run six work parties per year on sites important for butterflies and moths. The work carried out has contributed to the successful restoration of several of these sites. No more so than at the Devils Dyke (near Newmarket) where the Chalk hill blue population has been saved from disappearing and is now in a very strong position after many years work by the volunteers on the our work parties.
Carl is not leaving the committee and we are pleased to report that he has agreed to be Chairman, a position we have not been able to fill for several years. Thanks Carl.
January 2006

Committee Changes

Further changes have been made to the Committee. Many thanks to Carl Blamire who has been our Conservation Officer for many years and has toiled hundreds of hours on behalf of our moths & butterflies. He is now standing down and we welcome Vince Lea as his replacement. Carl has very kindly agreed to take up the role of Chairman, a position which has been vacant for some considerable time.
Thanks also go to Zoe Ringwood, our Fisher's Estuarine Moth expert (see Research Reports), who has taken up the challenge of being our Publicity and Fundraising Officer.
December 2005