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Newsletter

The British Chapter of the Society of Magnetic Resonance

ISSUE 1

January 1995

Chapter n. A later syncopated form of chapiter,...Latin capitulum, diminutive of caput, head.

4. Any duly constituted meeting or assembly of the canons of a collegiate or cathedral church, of the members of any monastic or religious order, or of an order of knights, for consultation or transaction of the affairs of their order.

5. The members of such an assembly, collectively as a permanent body.

c. A branch of an organisation or society, esp of a college fraternity, US.

"A Chapter of Royal Arch Masons was established in this place..." 1815, D. Drake, Cincinnati
Signal Eps at Yale, calling itself the Kappa' chapter, established a branch, Alpha' chapter, at Amherst. 1871, L.H. Bragg, 4 Years at Yale, 55.

Welcome to the British Chapter ?

The first boke of Moses. The first chapter. 1953 Coverdale Gen

The Society of Magnetic Resonance has responded to the petition from British members and created its first national Chapter. This newsletter will explain the background to this venture, the way the Chapter has been set up, and the committee's plans for the future.

Why have a British Chapter.

With many ceremonies and country rites the Chapters', or preliminaries of the combat are arranged.
1864, Kirk Chas. Bold I. ii. 105.

Now that the old SMRM & SMRI have merged, the SMR is a very large society. During the merger process there were concerns that it would become remote from its members, and the By Laws were written with that problem in mind. One of the new ideas was "National Chapters".

In Britain, we have an unusual situation. There has never been a British Society that covers the territories of the SMRM or SMRI, even though we have a vigorous medical and scientific community that works in the field. Thus, there was a great deal of interest as soon as the idea of a National Chapter of SMR was mooted. In one way or another almost 100 of the 189 British and Irish members have indicated support.

The purpose of a National Chapter is to fulfill the role of the SMR within a single country or geographical region. The By Laws of the British Chapter have been written around that concept, and we will be able to undertake any of the purposes of the Society, within our national borders. In practice, our main activity will be organising scientific workshops.

The British Chapter is Formed

In the name of the whole Chapter they have appealed unto th' Arches
155, in Strype Eccl. Mem. III App xl vi 142

About 80 SMR members initially indicated that they would support a British Chapter, so a "Formation Meeting" was held at the Second Annual Meeting of SMR in San Francisco, on August 8th, 1994. [It is an interesting point that the only way to get the British members together was at a meeting some 6000 miles from home - there are no meetings in the UK at present that would be attended by a complete cross-section of potential members.] The Formation Meeting voted nem. con. to petition for setting up a British Chapter, and a total of 63 members signed the petition, which was submitted to SMR the next day. The Board of Trustees approved it at their meeting later that week, and Dr. Gary Glover, Chairman of the Study Review Committee, wrote to give formal approval on 19 September 1994.

The Committee

The Master [of the Knights Templar] was elected by the Chapter
or general body of the Knights. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIV, 180/1

Another decision of the Formation Meeting was to elect a Committee, which held its first meeting on 28 October, 1994. Its membership is as follows:-

Prof. J.R. Griffiths Chairman.
Prof. R. Ordridge Secretary.
Prof. G. Cherryman Treasurer.

Committee
Ms. H.A.Case
Dr M.Conway
Dr. D.Hadley
Prof. D.Gadian
Dr. M.O.Leach
Prof. P.G. Morris
Dr. I. Young

How will the Chapter Function?

chapter and verse; the exact reference to a passage of Scripture; fig. exact authority for.

The basic principle is that the Chapter is a subsidiary of SMR, and subject to the By Laws and Procedure of the main Society. But these By Laws have been written is such a way that we have considerable day to day autonomy.

Our main activity will probably be the organisation of meetings and workshops. We have to clear these wit the SMR Workshop Committee. The Chapter will have its own bank account and will submit accounts to the SMR Treasurer on a regular basis.

By Laws

Questions on which doctors will doubtless disagree to the end of the chapter. 1881, Saintsbury Dryden 30

A set of By Laws for the Chapter will be updated when the details of the chapter's relationship with the parent society has been finalised, and the amended version will then be circulated to the members.

Membership:

He called hys bretheren in to the chappytre. 1483, Caxton Gold. Leg. 242/1

Any member in good standing of the SMR (or the affiliated Society of Magnetic Resonance Technologists) who is resident in the UK or the Republic of Ireland, may join. I will not be possible to join the Chapter without belonging to one of the parent societies.

Subscription:

Avarice. In whose chaptire now we trete. 1393, Gower Conf. II 192.

Full members of the Chapter will pay a subscription of £ 20 p.a. or £ 5 p.a. for students (in addition to their subscriptions to the parent society). To simplify administration, anyone who can show that they are registered as a Student Member of either Society will be accepted to Student Membership of the Chapter for the year in question (i.e. you don't have to get a new letter from your supervisor). Subscriptions should be sent to the Treasurer, using the enclosed application form.

Plans for 1995

the chapter of accidents: the unforeseen course of events. SO: the chapter of possibilities
The Committee currently envisages three events in 1995.
  1. The British Institute of Radiology is holding a meeting on "MRS: Clinical and Preclinical" on Monday 20 March. It has been agreed (too late for the publicity material, unfortunately) that this will be jointly held with the Chapter. Booking forms can be obtained from the British Institute of Radiology, 36 Portland Place, London W1N 4AT, Tel: 0171-58-0-4085, Fax: 071-255-3209.
  2. A social meeting of the Chapter will probably be held during the SMR Annual Meeting in Nice (August 19-25), to enable members to get together informally and discuss future plans.
  3. The first Annual Meeting of the Chapter is being planned for December 1995, in Oxford. We are hoping to hold a two-day meeting, consisting of symposia on contrasting topics. The European Society for NMR in Neuropaedriatics is due to hold a meeting around that time, and we are liaising with them to try and run the two meetings back to back.

Why Call it a Chapter?

To hold A Chapter of St. Benedict, For inquisition stern and strict. 1808 Scott Marm ii.iv.

Several members have asked why the British Chapter is so named, as they are only familiar with this use of the word in the context of the Ku-Klux-Klan, Hell's Angels, or other American institutions. The Oxford English Dictionary does indeed list this as an American usage, an the derivation is given on the top of this page. To enliven these dry paragraphs, a few other uses of the word. All citations are from the O.E.D. on CD-ROM, Version 1.02 © OUP 1992.

Volunteers Wanted.

And so forward, mutatis mutandis, to the end of the chapter. 1704 R. L' Enstrange (J.)

  1. This newsletter was produced by the Chairman, but it will be a very irregular publication if it is left to him. Would any member like to take on the role of Newsletter Editor? Perhaps we should aim for a quarterly publication.
  2. Another possibility would be a Computer Bulletin Board. Would any member volunteer to organise one? What does it cost?
  3. Any other suggestions?

Last modified 23 September, 1997.