● Host Society for the 2011 BANS Congress to be held in Southport
● Next Meeting Status:
The Fielding Lecture
A Tribute to Past Chairman Ben Fielding
In the spring of 2008 Ben Fielding, one of our earliest members and our Chairman for the last 15 years, announced that he would be standing down from the office – which was somewhat of a surprise until we appreciated that Ben was then in his ninetieth year!
Ben was a good chairman, hardly ever missing a meeting, who took charge of proceedings with a quiet and friendly authority, although never afraid to wield the gavel to bring order to a discussion! His good humour and warm welcome always put guest speakers at ease from the start. After a talk Ben was often called upon to give the vote of thanks, which he always delivered with absolute sincerity and enthusiasm. Due to his advancing age Ben recently made the decision that attending evening meetings was now too tiring and therefore he could no longer be an active member of the society. This decision was not made lightly as he thoroughly enjoyed not only the programme of meetings every year but also the friendship of many members. Ben was always seen as the society’s patriarch.
How do you mark such a term of membership and service to the society? The committee and general membership discussed this issue at some length and it was finally decided at the AGM in October 2008 that there could be no better way to show the society’s appreciation than to name the principal lecture of the year in Ben’s honour. It was also naturally approved that he should be granted life membership.
The November meeting had always been set aside for important guest speakers and so
it was unanimously agreed that in future this would be known as ‘The Fielding Lecture’.
November 2008 was the first meeting to bear this fine title, the guest speaker being
Dr. Barrie Cook of the British Museum who gave a fascinating lecture on The Importance
of Tudor Pattern Coins -
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