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History of the Society
The society was formed in 1908. A group of 7 men met on the 4th January
in a room of the Free Library in Altrincham. The aim was to form a society
to promote the knowledge, observation, recording and protection of all forms
of nature. The provisional chairman was Mr John Hilkirk and the secretary was
Mr William Plant. It was agreed that letters should be sent to friends and
associates of a like-mind and to send advertisements to the local papers - from
which the nucleus of 7 grew to 38 members by April of the same year.
Meetings, by this time using a room in the Technical School in George St
Altrincham, were initially held on a fortnightly basis, using the collections
and knowledge of the members themselves, with moths, geological specimens,
fungi and 'local weeds' being some of the first subjects for discussion.
Lantern slides, books, specimens, diagrams and records were given to the
society, soon leading to the need for a librarian and curator to look after
them, forming a small museum and library. The cost of membership at this
time was one shilling per annum.
The society was disbanded for a period during the First World War, reforming
in 1919, gradually gaining in membership and widening the field of interest.
Some eminent names have appeared as speakers and become friends as well.
Records from the society have been kept from its inception, and copies of
these are held at the University of Liverpool.
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