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Report of the Annual General Meeting
7 January 2012
Dr John Law (branch chairman) opened the 2012 AGM by welcoming those present. In his opening address, Dr Law referred to the hospitality granted to the Branch by the National Waterfront Museum, for which the Branch is very grateful. He also thanked other organisations such as Swansea University, St Mary’s Parish Church, Friends of Carmarthenshire County Museum and the Neath Port Talbot Heritage Network for their support. Dr Law informed the meeting that during the previous year, Branch President Ralph A Griffiths had been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Historical Association.
Branch Executive Secretary Colin James presented the Branch Annual Report, in which he spoke of the events that the Branch had arranged during 2011, and he also referred to the busy year that lay ahead for the Branch
In the absence of the Branch Treasurer (owing to illness) the Executive Secretary presented the Financial Report.
Both reports were accepted by the meeting.
The election of Branch Officers and Committee then took place with the following being elected to serve for 2012:
Branch Chairman: John Law
Branch Vice-chairman : John Ashley
Honorary Branch Executive Secretary: Colin James
Honorary Branch Treasurer: Richard Bodenham
Branch Committee:
Chris Bovis, Rosemary Crahart, Caroline Franklin, Siobhan Hearne, Sid Kidwell, Royston Kneath, Robert Leonard, Robert McCloy,
Ian Smith, Karmen Thomas, Claire Vivian
Following the meeting, Colin James gave a public talk on ‘The Changing Date of New Year’s Day’, a well-attended talk that both informed and entertained.
If anyone wishes to join the Branch or to renew membership, please get in touch with the Executive Secretary at haswansea@ymail.com, or write to the Membership Secretary c/o the National Waterfront Museum, Oystermouth Road, Maritime Quarter, Swansea, SA1 3RD.
Branch Banter
Saturday 28 January saw the fourth public lecture in the ‘Time Talks’ series, presented by the National Waterfront Museum with speakers provided by the Historical Association’s Swansea Branch. On this occasion, Dr Nicholas Riall spoke to an audience of well over a hundred (that’s individuals, not age) about the dating of historical artefacts. This was a captivating talk that was delivered with apparent ease and was also well illustrated. The main point of the talk concerned the ‘Red Lady of Paviland’, which is a skeleton of a young man (previously incorrectly identified as that of a female) found in a cave on the Gower Peninsula. The skeleton, dyed in red ochre, was discovered in 1823, and is very significant as it is the oldest ceremonial burial to have been unearthed in western Europe. The bones were discovered between 18 and 25 January by the Reverend William Buckland while excavating Goat’s Hole, a cave on the southern side of the peninsula, between Port Eynon and Rhossili. Buckland believed the bones to be those of a female of the period of the Roman occupation of Britain, hence its ‘Red Lady’ tag, but subsequent analysis showed them to be those of a young male and of an era much older than first thought. The current calculation of the age of the skeleton is about 30,000 years before the present time, but with more sophisticated methods of dating being produced, that could become more specific as time goes on. The Branch is very grateful to Dr Riall for giving his fascinating talk and for answering questions on the subject afterwards.
Saturday 28 January saw the fourth public lecture in the ‘Time Talks’ series, presented by the National Waterfront Museum with speakers provided by the Historical Association’s Swansea Branch. On this occasion, Dr Nicholas Riall spoke to an audience of well over a hundred (that’s individuals, not age) about the dating of historical artefacts. This was a captivating talk that was delivered with apparent ease and was also well illustrated. The main point of the talk concerned the ‘Red Lady of Paviland’, which is a skeleton of a young man (previously incorrectly identified as that of a female) found in a cave on the Gower Peninsula. The skeleton, dyed in red ochre, was discovered in 1823, and is very significant as it is the oldest ceremonial burial to have been unearthed in western Europe. The bones were discovered between 18 and 25 January by the Reverend William Buckland while excavating Goat’s Hole, a cave on the southern side of the peninsula, between Port Eynon and Rhossili. Buckland believed the bones to be those of a female of the period of the Roman occupation of Britain, hence its ‘Red Lady’ tag, but subsequent analysis showed them to be those of a young male and of an era much older than first thought. The current calculation of the age of the skeleton is about 30,000 years before the present time, but with more sophisticated methods of dating being produced, that could become more specific as time goes on. The Branch is very grateful to Dr Riall for giving his fascinating talk and for answering questions on the subject afterwards.
Amanuensis