REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR 1909. 
5 
whilst the memory of the portrayal of the great historic 
events, so charmingly performed, not only in the costumes of 
the various periods, but in some cases upon the actual original 
site, will remain indelibly imprinted on the minds and 
memories of the spectators, especially the school children, 
for the rest of their lives, and will by them be handed on to 
their children’s children. The Pageant was in every way 
worthy of our ancient city. The Episodes, seven in number, 
extended from the dim distance of legendary possibilities, 800 
years before Christ, through the 300 years of the Roman 
occupation, when York probably attained its highest position 
and was known as “ Altera Roma,” traced the history of our 
ancient city under Danish, Saxon and Norman Conquerors, 
portrayed in rich and never-to-be-forgotten life-like pictures, 
the principal events of the reigns of the Plantaganets, the 
Tudors and the Stuarts, so far as they had been enacted in 
and around our ancient city. It is probable that from fifty to 
sixty thousand strangers visited our Gardens, including many 
of our American Cousins, who warmly appreciated the meeting 
between the representatives of Old and New York, and to put 
the Pageant on the lowest level, this cannot fail to have been 
a magnificent advertisement not only of the beauties of our 
Gardens, but of the archaeological and historic relics preserved 
and treasured by our Society. 
As already mentioned, the financial position of your Society 
has benefited considerably from the Pageant, and instead of 
our expenditure exceeding our income by ££o, as was the case 
last year, our Annual Statement shews the satisfactory balance 
of income over expenditure of £388 14s. id. Your Council 
recommend that a substantial portion of this surplus should 
be applied in the preservation of the ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey 
and St. Leonard’s Hospital, where the ravages of time and 
weather are unceasing and often unobserved, and a report by 
Messrs. Platnauer and Benson referred to in last year’s pro¬ 
ceedings will, we hope, now be acted upon. 
During the past year our Delegates attended the Meeting 
of the British Association at Winnipeg, where they were 
joined by your President, Dr. Tempest Anderson, at the 
conclusion of his voyage round the world. 
