Welsh Journals

Foreword This is the last issue of Nature in Wales to be edited by Douglas Bassett. Ever since 1982 the difficulties involved in its publication have multiplied. Largely they have stemmed from the continuing ill-health of the Editor. However, against all the odds, he has succeeded in the last five years in publishing much that he felt ought to see the light of day and would never appear unless he took the chances that were available to him. Meanwhile money became ever more and more difficult to find. Despite what a few still think, the National Museum does not have access to an inexhaustible pot of gold! Future issues of Nature in Wales will be tightly constrained by finance. At the same time the business of distributing copies in bulk to the offices of Naturalists Trusts has proved too cumbersome, partly because the exigencies of the times mitigated against adherence to punctual dates of publication. So, a number of decisions have had to be taken. First, and so sadly, his continuing ill-health has insisted that Douglas Bassett has to resign. Let it never be missed that, without his guidance and generosity, Nature in Wales would have come to an end in 1981. Our heartfelt good wishes go to him now for a full recovery back to his old vigour. Next I must emphasise that the interest of the National Museum in Nature in Wales is undiminished. The Museum has agreed that it shall now accept full responsibility for production and marketing as well as editing. It will offer to all in Wales who are interested in the rocks and the landscape, in the plants and animals which share the countryside with us, particularly, to Naturalists Trusts, opportunities to publish the results of individual or corporate work. An essential element in editorial policy will still be that the journal must always be intelligible and interesting to Everyman. The need for a Welsh journal has never been in doubt. The National Museum continues to believe that its responsibility to the people of Wales extends far outside the walls of its premises. The living present is the contemporary chapter in a continuing story in which the Museum holds an almost day-by-day interest. Nature in Wales will keep us up to date. So the Museum has agreed that Roy Perry, as Assistant Keeper in the Botany Department, shall become editor and that Mrs Jean Parsons will continue as editorial assistant. They will be backed by the technical resources within the Museum. The Editorial Board is to be reconstructed as a Sub-committee of the Museum's Science Committee. While appointments to the Board will now be solely the responsibility of the Museum, the Museum proposes to redouble its efforts to see that the Trusts have a substantial voice in it. Nature in Wales can flourish only if more and more people come to be looking forward to its next volume. We plan to have two a year, one in October and the second in March. The price per part will be about Sl. 50. Our administration and budgeting would be greatly eased if potential subscribers would complete an order form. John H. Barrett Chairman, Editorial Board