The Annual General Meeting of the Society was held at 2pm on Saturday 4th June, 2011, in the Woburn Suite, South Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU. The President, Andrew Burnett, was in the chair and welcomed members and non-members.
He referred to the Annual Report for the Society's centenary year, 2010 and thanked Mr Graham Kentfield, Chair of the Centenary Committee, and Dr Fiona Haarer for organising such a rich programme. He noted the large number of events held to mark the occasion, especially those which had taken place since the last AGM, such as the regional Roman Archaeology Conferences on the theme of AD 410 and the End of Roman Britain. He also drew attention to two legacy projects. The first of these, IMAGO, is the digitisation and making available online of the Society's slide collection: it is hoped that members will both use the collection and also donate their own images so that the collection continues to grow. The President thanked Dr Peter Guest and the Archaeology Committee for their work on this project. The second scheme is the development of a website on the Romans for school children and the general public. The President reported that a pilot project was now underway, co-ordinated by Mr Sam Moorhead, the Hon. Secretary, partly funded by contributions to the Schools Centenary Appeal Fund. He pointed out that this was just one of the ways in which the Society helps schools, and referred to the increasing number of applications from schools wishing to teach Latin and Roman studies (though he also noted the worrying shortage of classics teachers and opportunities for classics teacher-training places). He reported as well the success of the museum internship bursary scheme introduced by the Schools Committee: there had been ninety-six applications for the four places available. Finally, in this report on the Society's outreach activities, he drew attention to the eNewsletter, another initiative of the Archaeology Committee. The first issue was scheduled to appear at the beginning of July and he encouraged members to respond to the call for submissions. He thanked the Editors, Dr Peter Guest and Dr Fraser Hunter, for their hard work so far.
Turning to more traditional areas of the Society's activities, the President reported the success of the move of the journals to Cambridge University Press, both in terms of finance and increasing the impact of the journals worldwide. He then handed over to the Hon. Librarian, Professor Michael Crawford, who referred to the Library which, now in its new accommodation on the Third Floor of the South Block, had received more than fifty thousand visits in the last year. He noted especially the efforts of the librarians to maintain exchange connections which enabled the Library to receive, for free, publications worth about a third of the total value of acquisitions. To help to safeguard the long-term security of the Library, especially during this period when public funding is threatened, he encouraged members to respond to the Library Appeal which had been circulated in the recent mailing. The President thanked the Hon. Librarian; the Librarian, Mr Colin Annis, and his staff; the Editors of the journals, Professor Greg Woolf and Mr Richard Brewer; the Publications Secretary, Dr Lynn Pitts; and all the various committees for their contributions to the running of the Society.
The President referred to the deaths of Mr Frederick Jenkins, who had worked in the Joint Library from 1936 to his retirement in 1977, and three Honorary Members: Professor E. Badian, Professor C. Nicolet and Professor H. von Petrikovits. He reported that three new Honorary Members had been appointed: Dr Michel Amandry, Professor Hannah Cotton and Professor Werner Eck. He also offered congratulations to members who had received honours over the last year: Professor Mary Beard and Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill who had been elected Fellows of the British Academy, Professor Michael Fulford who had been appointed a CBE, and Professor Sir Fergus Millar, knighted for his contribution to scholarship. A special celebration had been held in Oxford by the Society, Brasenose College and the Classics Faculty to celebrate Sir Fergus' honour.
The Hon. Treasurer, Dr Philip Kay, presented the accounts for 2010, and referred members to Larkings' statement approving the Accounts. He noted that the Society had a surplus of £50,000 which had been achieved by the additional income from the contract with CUP and the delay by the University of London in imposing the increased Library space charges. He warned that, in subsequent years, the new space charges would reduce the surplus and could even result in a deficit. Lastly, he reported that at the end of 2010, the Investment Committee, with Council's approval, had decided to move the Society's investments (currently worth c.£870,000) to Newton Investment Management Ltd. Over the next six months, the Society would move £200,000 in four instalments to Newton, leaving c.£150,000 in cash.
The Report and Accounts for 2010 were approved on the proposal of Mr Mark Hassall and seconded by Dr Hugh Davies. The remuneration of Larkings was proposed by Mr Mark Hassall and seconded by Dr Tim Leary, and the reappointment of Larkings was proposed by Mr John Bradley and seconded by Professor Val Maxfield. Both were approved by the meeting.
Dr Sandra Billington proposed and Dr Hugh Davies seconded the following nominations for election: as President for 2011–12 Dr Andrew Burnett, FBA, FSA; Vice-Presidents for 2011–12 Professor A.K. Bowman, FBA, FSA, Professor M.G. Fulford, CBE, FBA, FSA, and Rev. Professor J.S. Richardson, FRSE; as Hon. Treasurer and Hon. Secretary for 2011–12 Dr Philip B. Kay and Mr T. Sam N. Moorhead, FSA respectively; and as Council members for 2011–14: Professor K.E.T. Butcher, FSA, Ms C. Higgins, Professor D.R. Langslow, Professor R. Laurence, Dr S. Lunn-Rockliffe, Dr C. Pickersgill and Dr K. Tempest. All proposals were passed nem. con. The President thanked the outgoing members of Council for their contribution to the Society over the previous three years, and he welcomed the new members. Finally the President thanked the officers and Secretary of the Society for their hard work over the year.
The AGM was followed by a programme of talks on the theme of Vindolanda, attended by over a hundred members and guests. The speakers were: Dr Ralph Jackson: Actuality and Aspiration: Curating the Vindolanda Tablets (read by Dr Philippa Walton); Dr Andrew Birley: The Landscape and Archaeology of the Vindolanda Writing Tablets; Professor Alan Bowman: The Vindolanda Tablets and the Military Community; Professor David Thomas: On Reading the Tablets from Vindolanda; Dr Roger Tomlin: Not to Mention the Tablets: Vindolanda's other Inscriptions (read by Mr Mark Hassall). The event had been planned in honour of Professor Alan Bowman, to mark his retirement from the Camden Chair of Ancient History in Oxford, and the President gave a concluding speech, highlighting the achievements of Professor Bowman's career and his exceptional contribution to the Society and to Roman studies in general. The day ended with a reception.
