GALAPAGOS DAY 2003

The GCT celebrated Galapagos Day once again at the Royal Geographical Society's headquarters in London on 22 October. The guest of honour was HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, who has a particular interest in the Galapagos Islands, which he has visited several times (he is also Patron of the Charles Darwin Foundation).

The featured speaker was Andrew Marr, who is well known as the BBC's political Editor. Andrew is also remembered as Charles Darwin's champion in the BBC series of programmes that aimed to select the Greatest Briton. His talk ranged beyond the realms of animal and plant life, and considered what might be termed social and political Darwinism. It was a stimulating lecture, and inspired a broad range of questions from the audience afterwards.

The evening ended with the raffle draw, performed by Johannah Barry, of GCT's sister organisation near Washington, DC. The winner of the star prize - a luxury Galapagos cruise for two, donated by Quasar Nautica - was Jemma Montagu Pearson. This was a highly serendipitous outcome in two respects. Although Jemma is a member of GCT, she has not yet visited Galapagos, but she does have a connection with the islands, because about three years ago she was commissioned by Shrewsbury School (which Darwin attended from the age of 9 to 16) to make a statue of the great man. The 1.3 times life size statue stands on a plinth outside the school's main building. It shows him as a young man, much as he would have looked during his visit to Galapagos on the Beagle. The statue was unveiled by Sir David Attenborough on 9 September 2000. Jemma is already looking forward to her chance to follow in Darwin's footsteps.

As usual, the occasion was a tremendous success. This year's event was sold out, filling every one of the 700 seats at the RGS lecture theatre. Bear this in mind when you receive next year's invitation!

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