Alan Roy Perry (1938-2014) 109^th President

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Known to all as Roy, he was born in 1938 in Burton-on-Trent and after his initial education, in 1957 he entered the Agricultural Botany Course at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He then went on to get professional botanical work at the University of Oxford. Roy was Assistant Curator of Herbaria in the Department of Botany from 1960 until 1971.

The Journal of Bryology carried a detailed obituary of him which included the following

Roy was a mine of information on many aspects of natural history, with deep knowledge of bryophytes, the Society, its early history. The early embryology of the British Bryological Society and also such subjects as moths and butterflies, birds (especially wetland birds), fungi (he led many fungus forays locally, much enjoyed by the public, including children), grasses and sedges, flowering plants, gardening, plant ecology, archaeology, bee keeping

Many of these aspects were well known to us as a Society and he did indeed run a number of fungus forays for the society which this author (Andy Kendall 113^th President) remembers well.

In 1971, Roy started in the Botany Department of the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, initially as Assistant Keeper, in charge of, and later Head of, the Lower Plants section including mosses, lichens, liverworts and ferns. He worked there from 1971 until ill-health caused him to take early retirement in 1998. As a personal note, I remember some of those years well as I had to pass Roy's office often as I moved around the building. During these years he worked on a number of publications including a chapter in the Flora of Glamorgan (1994) which publication followed on from the versions that the society had published, and British Plant Life 1, Mosses and Liverworts of Woodland: A Guide to Some of the Commonest Species

Also during these years he was a regular co-worker with other local Naturalists and we have some pictures of him in the field from his trips out with Dr Mary E Gillham 96^th President

Approaching Cwm Bach nettles where sheep shelter. Roy Perry (left) with Dr. John Howden. Heritage Coast Officer, Photo from the Dr Mary Gillham Archive project

Roy Perry searches for beetles in fox corpse. Dunraven cliff, April 1976 , Photo from the Dr Mary Gillham Archive project

Although he had a vast and wide ranging interest in many areas of Natural history it is certain that lower plants and fungi were at the top of his interest area and it is clear how much he contributed in that area. His detailed obituary in the Journal of Bryology carries a vast amount of detail on the discoveries he made and the works he contributed to

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Before this... Douglas Anthony Bassett BSc, PhD, F.G.S. (1927-2009) 108^th President

Next up... Stephen R. Howe 110^th President

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These pages are part of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society 150th Anniversary celebrations and are about our history and are celebrating the people who developed our Society and helped build the city and the cultural heritage of Cardiff. You can read more about that using the links above

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