162 Anniversary Address. 



know. No doubt Mr Hardy has notes of all that has 

 occurred at the meetings of this year, which he will pro- 

 bably mention briefly now, and afterwards publicly at 

 length in the Transactions. I shall briefly refer to the 

 meetings. 



The Annual Meeting of last year was held at Berwick on 

 October 12th. I was not present, and know nothing of the 

 proceedings except that the late Mr Cadogan was appointed 

 President. On his unexpected and lamented death I was 

 asked to fill the vacancy, as according to our usual practice 

 the Presidency fell this year to Northumberland. I fear I 

 have no qualification for it except being one of the very 

 oldest members of the Club — in fact within a very little of 

 the top of the list ; but I thought it would be uncourteous 

 to decline a compliment thus offered. I fear too I have 

 never been a regular attender at the meetings, and even this 

 year as President have missed some meetings, but that I 

 hope to explain afterwards. 



Of the five Field Meetings of the season I have only 

 managed to attend two. The first on May 30th, was in 

 the lovely Vale of Whittingham, in Northumberland. 

 For the events of this day I must refer you altogether 

 to Mr Hardy, for at the eleventh hour I found I had 

 to take the chair at a political meeting that very day, 

 and had I attended our Club meeting, would have been 

 obliged to leave in the middle of the proceedings. The 

 Meeting at Kirknewton on June 27th, was more or less of a 

 success, as the day was fair, but the higher hills were so 

 enshrouded in mist that an expedition to Cheviot, which no 

 doubt was the principal attraction, was out of the question. 

 However, the whole of the vale in and around Kirknewton 

 is extremely picturesque ; in fact I rather wonder why this 

 part of our district is not more often visited by the Club. 

 Breakfast and dinner were served very satisfactorily under 

 a tent, on a particularly pretty spot at the junction of the 

 Colledge and Bowmont. By kind permission of Alexander 

 Thompson, Esq., of Kirknewton, a large party explored the 

 bases of the hills by Heathpool and the pretty little water- 



