The AGM was held, starting at 7.30pm. The Treasurer's Report and Accounts were accepted. The Annual Report for 2024 was accepted. It was agreed to change the Section's bank from HSBC to NatWest, and changes were made to the constitution to reflect this and to change the structure of the officers and committee. Nicola Bashforth was elected as Chair, Peter Smith was elected as Treasurer and Membership Secretary, and Alan Bevington was elected as Secretary.  Simon Bennett, Ann Branson and Pouran Khodabaksh were elected as Committee Members. (Ann has since stood down.) An appeal for more members to become involved in the committee was made.

There was a discussion of whether it was desirable to put up the membership fees in order to be able to book speakers travelling greater distances or who required a fee. It was felt that the Section had adequate funds at present, and this was unnecessary. There was also a discussion of the use of the Wild Apricot system for registration for Outdoor Meetings. There was little enthusiasm for this, and it was felt the existing approach worked well enough, although members were to be reminded that it is necessary to register with the walk leader, as some walks have restrctions on numbers.  Members of the committee who were standing down (Hazel Graves, Russell Parry and Raita Hayes) were thanked for their work on behalf of the Section over the years.

The full minutes will be published in due course.

After the break, Hazel Graves gave a talk about Aphids. She explained some of the biology of this group of insects and highlighted the large number of different species and the relationship between species and specific food plants. She explained the difficulty of identifying some species and recommended the Influential Points website as a good source of information.