Botany and Mycology Club AGM

The Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine held its annual general meeting on Saturday 1 February. All the usual AGM stuff was done, then Jean gave a very informative lecture about plant galls, followed by cakes and drinks. I didn't take my camera, so these photos are courtesy of Louisette.

The president delivers her report.

Photo courtesy of Louisette Chaslon.

The club has been in existance more than 30 years and has about 90 members, virtually none of whom live in Sainte Maure de Touraine now -- but the town is central to the southern half of the county (département) so it continues to be useful to be associated with the town. Eight members do not use the internet. Twenty-seven members were present at the AGM. We do not take an activist or legal role, but are an observatory only, with connections to activist groups. Our role is to educate the public and popularise topics such as biodiversity and natural history, encouraging them to value the natural world around them.

 Looking at the lecture notes.

Photo courtesy of Louisette Chaslon.

Last year we conducted twelve botanical outings and six mycological outings. There were eight general botany outings, two which focused on orchids, one on ferns as well as two on lichens. As well as the fungi forays we did two lectures. One of the topics discussed at the meeting was the problem of our aging demographic. Our outings are going to have to adapt to reduced mobility.

Cakes and drinks afterwards.

Photo courtesy of Louisette Chaslon.

Despite the fact that very few members actually live in Sainte Maure these days, the municipal council is happy to offer us the use of a meeting room and a permanent postal address, as well as printing our annual journal.

At the end of the meeting there was home made chocolate and pumpkin tart, biscuits and crêpes. The French way of eating crêpes in this situation is to sprinkle the dry room temperature crêpe with raw sugar, fold or scrunch the crêpe up and eat like a sandwich (I did once witness a French person shove the whole crêpe in their mouth at once, but normally they are a bit more refined than that).

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