British Society for Medical Mycology

The British Society for Medical Mycology (once the British Society for Mycopathology) developed in 1964 from an authority subcommittee the Medical Research Council initially made in 1953.

The origins of the British Mycological Society can be traced to Woolhope Field Naturalists' Club in Hereford and to the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union (Y.N.U.). The Woolhope Club was based on the Hereford Museum and in 1867 its Curator, Dr H. G. Bull encouraged the club to take a special interest in fungi. He invited them to join him in ` a foray among the funguses ' and this became an annual event, traditionally held in Hereford during the first week of October. The Woolhope Club meetings became a focus for all with an interest in fungi and attracted mycologists both from Britain and abroad. Members of the club dined at the Green Dragon Hotel in Hereford. The menu for dinner on 4 October 1877 (Fig. 1) shows that they dined well. Following Bull's death in 1885 the forays lost their popularity and ceased altogether in 1892. Fortunately the Y.N.U. had itself begun to organize regular forays in different parts of Yorkshire and formed a Mycological Committee in 1892.