March has been another busy month. We have carried out Restless Earth Workshops for schools in the Chatham and Banbury areas all of which have been well-received and much appreciated by the students who have taken part. Once again the mentors were from both BCS and the RGS Ambassadors and, therefore, my thanks to you all. We also had a stand at GEO 12 which was held in the middle of the month at the Holiday Inn at Elstree and our thanks go to PV Publications for that.
As you are aware it is the BCS’s 50th Anniversary next year and we are planning to produce a special book to celebrate the event entitled something like, ‘The British Cartographic Society 50th Anniversary Book’. Martin Lubikowski, Nick Millea, Seppe Cassettari and I have drawn up an outline plan. To be fair Martin has drawn up the plan! We have identified significant events in the British Isles and internationally for each year from 1963 to 2012 (see list). Now we want to find maps that relate to those events. We would be delighted if any of you could provide suitable maps which preferably should be scanned and sent to Martin Lubikowski [mldesign@btclick.com]. Any paper copy should be sent to Nick Millea at the Bodleian Library. We would, of course, also need the permission of the copyright holder to allow BCS to publish the map. If you wish to be involved please send your contributions by the 30 April – thanks in advance. Also, if you have any old photographs of members of the Society at ‘work’ that you think might be suitable for the book we’d be interested to see those too.
On the very positive side we’ve had 25 new members so far this year. However, there are a number of our existing members who have yet to pay their subscriptions. Please do pay as soon as you are able – you can do do so through our secure website at www.cartography.org.uk and on the Home page click on Membership Renew. Thank you.
April will be another busy month. BCS has a stand at GISRUK which is at Lancaster University this year and David Forrest will be looking after that. The following week is the London Book Fair and I hope to see some of you there on Monday the 16th. On Tuesday there is a Restless Earth Workshop in Hackney and on Wednesday a Council meeting in London. My own programme also includes an Airport Summit in Brussels and attendance at the IHO Conference in Monte Carlo.
I hope you have had a chance to read the programme for the Symposium in June which is full of excellent sessions, workshops and presentations. Do register, if you can, before 2 May so that you get the benefit of the ‘Early Bird’ rates.
Finally, there will be the usual round of elections for Council and nomination forms will be sent out with the next edition of Maplines towards the end of April. So if you would like to be closely involved with the work and development of the Society now’s the time to think about seeking nomination.
Best Wishes
President of The British Cartographic Society
