190 pkesident's addeess. 



ADDRESS TO THE MEMBEES OF THE TYNESIDE. 

 I^TATTJRALISTS' EIELD CLUB, 



READ BY THE PEESIDENT, EEV.. ©ANON WHEELEK, M.A., AT THE 

 THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNIVEESAEY MEETING, HELD IN THE MUSEUM 

 OF THE NATUEAL HISTOEY SOCIETY, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, ON 

 FEIDAY, MAY 11th, 1883. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, — It is again once more both my pleasure 

 and my duty, as your President, to sum up the proceedings of 

 the Club during the year of office which closes for me to-day. 

 When you again elected me to fill the post I felt that you did 

 me an honour which I little deserved. 



Our EiEST Eield Meeting was held at Blanchland on Whit 

 Monday. A very numerous party assembled at the Central 

 Station, ISTewcastle; some joined us in the hope that they would 

 have the double enjoyment which beautiful scenery ever affords, 

 and at the same time profit by the knowledge they might gain 

 from those who had become more deeply learned in the great 

 book of l^ature than they themselves were. 



The forethought of our excellent and indefatigable honorary 

 Secretaries had provided even for such a gathering, and carriage 

 accommodation in ample abundance was awaiting us on our ar- 

 rival at Benfieldside Station. The drive thence to Blanchland 

 was all that could be desired. Sunny skies, pleasant companions, 

 beautiful scenery, all combined to enhance our pleasure and to 

 crowd our memories with happy recollections. The antiquarian, 

 the historian, and the naturalist alike found an ample field for 

 the gratification of their various tastes and inclinations at Blanch- 

 land, 



The days when the l^orman ruled in England seemed almost 

 to live before us as we wandered around the site of an old Pre- 

 monstratensian Abbey, founded by Walter de Bolbec in 1175. 

 One could picture the abbey with its monks in their best and 

 most prosperous days, their learning, their care for the poor, and 

 the one bright centre of civilization and culture which the abbey 



