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Dr Peter Long 1938–2017 Dr Peter Ernest Long, B.Sc (Hons), Ph.D, passed away at Sobell House Hospice, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, on Tuesday 14th March 2017, aged 79. Beloved father of Fraser and Antonia and brother of David, keen birdwatcher, botanist and geologist, and active Christian. Peter Long developed his lifelong love of natural history in East Anglia and was involved in SNS and the local geological societies since the early 1950s. His early interests included birds, geology, and fossils and through his early twenties he birdwatched regularly with his father, Rodney Long. He became a professional botanist (following and sponsored through his first employment as a Scientific Assistant at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft from January 1956). Peter started as a lecturer at the University of Leicester in the Department of Botany in 1968 and worked there, later lecturing in botany and microbiology in the Microbiology Department, until his phased retirement from undergraduate teaching (beginning in 1998 and ending in 2001). However, he continued to work in a part-time capacity with the University’s adult education unit for many years after (until 2010), teaching evening, weekend or distance learning courses aimed at enthusiasts for ecology and nature conservation. In retirement in the early 2000s he actively took up field mycology, the identification and recording of toadstools and other relatively visible fungi, developing nationally recognised expertise, particularly in grassland fungi. He also worked on geological research papers he had been considering in conjunction with his geology hobby and, with the enthusiastic support of Professor Jan Zalsiewicz, produced peer-reviewed papers in that ‘hobby’ subject of his. Bernard Oliver Tickner 1924–2017 Bernard Tickner was one of the longest standing members of SNS having joined in 1944. He was well known throughout Suffolk firstly as head brewer for Greene King (he joined at the age of 16 and in 1959, created their famous Abbot Ale) and later, in retirement, through his prominent role in the creation of Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Lackford Lakes Reserve with generous gifts of land, finance and advocacy He was honoured for his dedication to horticulture and wildlife with the award of an MBE in 2017 at Fullers Mill, the garden he created around his house at West Stow. He moved there in 1958 and created an enchanting and tranquil waterside and woodland garden on the banks of the River Lark. He gifted the garden to the charity Perennial (Gardener’s Royal Benevolent Society) in 2013 ensuring that it will remain open to the public and provide a suitable legacy for his skill as a plantsman. He was a charming man and a true gentleman. We travelled together through Suffolk for several years whilst judging the East Anglian Wildflower awards which he had set up with funds from royalties on sales of a new Euphorbia hybrid he had found in his garden and introduced to cultivation. His knowledge of the county, its people and wildlife was outstanding and, wherever we went, he would regale us with stories
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 53 (2017)
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Bernard Tickner
from his boyhood travelling on trains from Hadleigh, farms he had worked on and pubs he had visited in his brewing career. His jovial nature and merry countenance ensured he would receive a warm welcome wherever we went. He was a great supporter of the Suffolk Flora project, providing generous financial support to help get the book published. I was glad to call him a friend and mentor; his contribution to Suffolk life and Suffolk wildlife will long be remembered. Martin Sanford
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 53 (2017)