Minutes of the 68th Annual General Meeting held at The Boniface Centre, Crediton on Saturday
8th March 2014 from 1.30pm.
The meeting was attended by 71 members and 3 visitors. It was chaired by Dr Keith Hiscock.
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from 45 members.
2. Minutes of the 2013 Annual General Meeting
There were no corrections to the minutes. It was agreed that they were a true and accurate record of the meeting.
3. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
4. Reports a. Chairman
The Chairman welcomed members and friends to the Boniface Centre in Crediton for the
68th meeting of the Lundy Field Society.
He explained that, in the past two years he had given a very full report of the activities of the
Society, following on from the 66th AGM when a change of secretaries had only just occurred. This year, the meeting would revert to the normal arrangements in which the
Honorary Secretary provides the report of our activities.
He mentioned a few matters that are directly the work of the Chairman and started by expressing his pleasure to chair such an active society and to have such a competent set of
Officers and committee members. He explained that his role has been to chair committee meetings and represent the Society on the Lundy Management Forum and at a variety of events. He occasionally carries messages to the island management and answers enquiries
(and sometimes concerns) from members. The Chairman emphasised the importance of ensuring that we work with the Lundy management in all that we do and was particularly pleased that the LFS is invited to contribute to the Lundy Management Forum which otherwise comprises the owners and lessees of the island and the statutory authorities that have a role in regulation of activities on the island. He expressed the hope that his knowledge of life and marine ecology was useful to the wardens and observed that he needed to get to the island more often! b. Honorary Secretary
The Honorary Secretary, Michael Williams, reported that the past year had been very busy for the Society. The Harman Family’s Lundy, a book reflecting on over 40 years of ownership of Lundy by the Harmans was launched at the 2013 AGM and is selling very well.
We also contributed to the Bird Ringing leaflet produced by the Lundy Company to widen the understanding of this important activity amongst visitors. The fungi guide remains in preparation.
In April, the Landmark Trust hosted an open day on the island. The LFS helped in its organisation, led walks, presented talks in the church and provided stewards for the

properties that were open to the public. Over 120 people were counted visiting Old Light
Upper.
We were sorry to learn of the death of James Leonard, who many of you will have encountered on the island. The Society was represented at his funeral in May last year and we are grateful to James’s sister, Lady Westmeath, who donated half of the funeral collection to the Society.
Attendance of LFS members on the Devon Birds day trip in May was low, possibly due to the poor weather.
Considerable work has been done behind the scenes on the website. Chris Webster has completed his project of providing electronic copies of all the annual reports and newsletters online. Later in the year the hosting of the website was moved to a commercial service and
Society email addresses provided using the lundy.org.uk domain. We have been selling
Society publications using the website and eBay during the year, taking advantage of special rates as a registered charity. Online sales are proving popular.
Two conservation breaks took place during the year, ably organised by Trevor Dobie.
Twenty-six people took part including five new faces. Work included burning rhododendron brash, bramble clearance in Millcombe Gardens, fence erecting, road repairs and tree surveying. The breaks also prove to be a great source of new members! In 2014, we are planning three holidays.
The proposed Atlantic Array took up a considerable amount of time, the committee participating actively in the consultation process. We opposed the application on the grounds of visual amenity, the effect of sediments and pollution, the effect on seabirds and the impact on the island’s economic viability. It was to our great relief that we learned the application had been withdrawn in November.
We also made a detailed response to the consultation on Marine Conservation Zones. No further information was forthcoming until the Designation Order for the Lundy MCZ came through in November, including only one feature for protection, the spiny lobster. Although the single feature included in the designation is disappointing, it is worth noting that the protection afforded via the Special Area of Conservation status and through the bye-laws made in 1986 and for the No-Take Zone made in 2003 remains in place. The Society continues to provide the Secretary, Robert Irving, to the Lundy Marine Conservation Zone
Advisory Group, for which Keith Hiscock acts as Chairman on behalf of the Marine
Biological Association.
A contribution was also made to Natural England’s ‘National Character Area’ profiles, of which the one for Lundy was published in the summer.
Two grants were awarded in 2013: one to Alan Rowland to continue his surveys of three
Lundy ponds, and one to Chris Rolfe who extended his 2008 survey of Lundy’s glacial history. Papers from both will appear in the forthcoming Journal.
We considered Open Access availability of the research papers published in our journal and annual report in order to satisfy the requirements of publicly funded grant-giving bodies.
Open Access is unrestricted online access to peer-reviewed scholarly research. Guidelines

currently permit publishers (like the LFS) an embargo of up to 12 months before making articles freely available. If we choose to disregard these guidelines, we would risk future authors publishing their Lundy research elsewhere because we would not be Open Access compliant. It was decided that the research papers we publish should be made freely available on the website one year after publication.
Society members, in particular committee members, provide talks and activities both on and off the island. These include history and wildlife talks, films shows, walks, fungi forays and mothtrapping demonstrations. Simon Dell continues to support the Lundy Company’s activities on the island and mainland and we are grateful to Grant Sherman who continues as our Island Representative, supervising the library and providing walks and talks in the
Warden’s absence.
The Society, through our Chairman, continues to contribute to the Lundy Management
Forum which meets twice a year.
The committee considering the restoration of the church met several times during the year; the Society is represented by Andrew Cleave and the Honorary Secretary.
During 2013, three committee meetings took place and, in 2014, we look forward to the first committee meeting to be held on Lundy since 1996. c. Honorary Treasurer
The Honorary Treasurer, Michael Fry, presented the accounts for the year ending 31st
December 2013. Members voted to adopt the accounts.
The Chairman thanked Roger Chapple for examining the accounts. A great debt of gratitude was expressed by the meeting to the Treasurer who was standing down from this office. d. Honorary Membership Secretary
The Honorary Membership Secretary, Sandra Rowland, gave her report: at the end of
February we had 392 active memberships, equating to 489 members including family members. The new members present at the meeting were welcomed. The names of three members whose deaths had been notified were read out.
5. Election of Officers
With the exception of the Honorary Treasurer all existing Officers were willing to stand again. It was proposed and seconded that these Officers be re-elected en bloc . There being no other proposals the Officers were re-elected.
Roger Chapple was proposed and seconded for Honorary Treasurer. There being no other nominations he was duly elected.
6. Election of Executive Committee
Existing members of the Executive Committee had completed two years of their three-year term having been elected at the 2012 AGM when the new constitution was adopted. Myrtle
Ternstrom retired from the committee and the Chairman thanked her for her significant contribution to the committee since 1998. There were three vacancies.
There were no nominations.

7. Election of Honorary Independent Examiner
Roger Allen was proposed and seconded as Honorary Independent Examiner. There being no other nominations he was duly elected.
8. Lundy Reports a. Lundy General Manager
Derek Green’s report can be found in full on p.11 of the 2013 LFS Annual Report. b. Lundy Warden
Beccy MacDonald
’s report can be found in full on p.14 of the 2013 LFS Annual Report.
The meeting was adjourned for a tea break.
9. Electronic publications
Tim Davis spoke about the high cost to the Society in printing our three regular publications, and the need to raise sponsorship to cover costs. Thought was being given to making future issues of the bulletin, Discovering Lundy , available in electronic format to those members with internet/email access. A show of hands indicated that many members were interested in this possibility. In the first instance, both printed and electronic versions would be produced, with members able to elect which form they receive in future. A new-look, colour cover for the annual report was also previewed.
10. Any other business
Members were invited to join a Devon Birds day trip to Lundy on Sunday 18th May, which coincides with the committee’s visit to the island for its May meeting.
Paul Doubler updated members about fundraising to keep the MV Balmoral in the water and to restore its sailing schedule to Lundy in 2015.
Luke Sutton briefed members on his forthcoming study of Lundy’s peregrine population.
Belinda Cox encouraged members to make contributions to the next issue of Discovering
Lundy .
11. Date and venue of next AGM
The Chairman reported that The Boniface Centre had been booked for Saturday 14th March
2015.
The meeting closed at 3.59pm. Talks were given by Tim Jones on Lundy’s birds, by Professor John
Hedger on the ‘Lundy Dungscape’, and by Helen Booker of the RSPB on the 2013 Manx Shearwater survey. Tim Davis spoke in memory of Tony Vickery. An auction of items donated to the Society concluded the proceedings.
Michael Williams, Honorary Secretary