Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire

Report of the Council,

FOR THE YEAR 1904.

URING the year 1904, thirty-seven new Members joined

the Society, and twelve died or resigned. The Membership at the commencement of 1905 numbered 248.

In the last Report of the Council it was announced that a room had been secured as headquarters for the Society in Nottingham. This room became available for the use of Members in May last, and contains a Library, which—thanks to the generosity of several donors, and to the interchange of publications with other Antiquarian Societies-is gradually increasing. The Council, however, regret that the furnishing of the room, in spite of several gifts of furniture by Members, has more than absorbed the small Reserve Fund that had been formed, and has entailed an expenditure of £10 further which has so far been borrowed from Revenue Account; a debt which the Council trusts may appeal to the generosity of Members to extinguish.

The Royal Insurance Company, which sub-let this room to the Society, is about to change its office, but it is hoped that this may not affect the Society's occupation.

The absorption of the Reserve Fund has necessarily curtailed any expenditure on the publication of other matter than the annual Volume of Transactions.

The Summer Excursion took place on the 14th of June, and was of a successful character. It was held in a district which hitherto had not been much visited by the Society. In the course of the Excursion, the Members strayed across the county boundary into Derbyshire, in order to visit Hardwick Hall.

In addition to the Summer Excursion, a half-day on 27th July was devoted to the examination of the precincts of Nottingham Castle, under the guidance of Mr. W. Stevenson. Several places of great interest, some of which are not available to the public, were inspected by a gathering of about eighty Members and friends.

Under instructions from the Council, the Hon. Secretaries have had some correspondence with the Town Clerk of Nottingham as to the changes made in the old street names of the town, which have been unduly frequent of late. There is a strong feeling among many of the inhabitants that the old designations should not be needlessly tampered with.