Agenda for the AGM 16 May 2024
As previously announced, our Annual General Meeting will take place at the RBGE, Edinburgh at 7pm on Thursday 16th May, 2024. Please come along to the final Lecture of the season at 6pm and stay to participate in the democratic running of your society.
Agenda
1) Welcome, introduction, apologies and opening comments.
2) Consideration of the minutes of the last AGM 2023. (Posted on the BSS website at www.botsoc.scot in the Members’ Area).
3) A report by the BSS president about the activities of the BSS over the last year. Q&A
4) Treasurer’s annual report and ‘consideration’ of the annual accounts. Q&A
5) Election/re-election of BSS Council members.
(The new BSS council will meet later in May to appoint officers from among its elected members).
Resolution A: BSS Council proposes the re-appointment of the following Council members who have not reached the end of their current 3-year term: Mid-term – David Chamberlain (re-elected 2023), Maria Chamberlain (re-elected 2023), Brian Ballinger (re-elected 2022), Kevin Gaffney (re-elected 2022), Hamlyn Jones (elected 2022, co-opted 2021). John Grace (re-elected 2023), Liz Kungu (re-elected 2023), Richard Milne (re-elected 2023), Laszlo Nagy (re-elected 2023), Professor Jonathon Silvertown (co-opted to Council in September 2022, elected Chair 2023), and Dr Sim Tang (Co-opted in March 2022, elected May 2023), Jill Thompson (re-elected 2023).
(Resolution B: BSS Council is not proposing the re-election of any Council members who have reached the end of their current 3 year term. No vote is required on Resolution B.)
Resolution C: BSS council proposes that the following be elected as full members of council: Katie Ricci, Dr Rachel Catherine Thomas, Richard Wilson*.
Resolution D: BSS council proposes a vote of thanks to the following members who are retiring at the end of a 3-year term: Cameron Diekonigin, Sandy Hetherington and Liz Lavery. We also thank co-opted, retiring members Scott Galloway and Ellie Bestington for their contributions.
6) Any other competent business.
*Statements of candidates proposed under Resolution C:
Katie Ricci
My name is Katie and I am a third year undergraduate studying plant science at the University of Edinburgh. The Botanical Society of Scotland has been a fantastic source of news and information about plants in a scientific context, and ever since attending my first talk I have enjoyed the fact that we have such a society based here in Scotland. Over the course of this year, I have been working alongside Ellie and others to develop and set up the student subgroup of the BSS, with my own role primarily focusing on the student section of the BSS website. It has been great getting to contribute to these developments, and being a part of the BSS Council would be an amazing opportunity to become even more involved with the society as a whole. I am keen to help coordinate the continued development of the student group as the next student representative. I think it is very important to increase awareness and engagement within the student body, and I would be happy to take on the responsibility of representing students.
Dr Rachel Catherine Thomas
Following a career in nature conservation in the public and voluntary sectors mostly in England, Rachel returned to Scotland in 2022 and is re-immersing herself in matters environmental. She had acquired a good grounding in horticulture as a child in the family garden before studying botany in St Andrews and forestry and forest history in Oxford. With Natural England and its predecessors, she provided woodland management advice for protected sites and completed the first iteration of the ancient woodland inventory for Argyll. Her interest in the historic environment led to a secondment to English Heritage as their ecologist before returning to Natural England to undertake a range of stakeholder engagement, communication and management roles latterly focusing on habitat restoration and recovery before co-ordinating the Royal Forestry Society’s Excellence in Forestry Awards. She is a Garden Guide at RBGE and thoroughly enjoys the freedom for new adventures.
Richard Wilson
(Written by Jonathan Silvertown)
Rich is a highly-qualified and very experienced IT professional, photographer, and busy volunteer at RBGE. He was co-opted to BSS council in 2023 and was thrown in the deep-end of the multifarious and mysterious software on which the BSS depends to serve its membership. He came up smiling and has been invaluable in helping us re-launch our website and communicate with members in the capacity of our publicity officer. Anyone reading this will have received emails from Rich. He is now proposed for election to full membership of BSS council.
