British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13 Captain Scott and team

THE SOCIETY

The Captain Scott Society exists to perpetuate the memory of Captain Scott and his comrades and their association with the City of Cardiff.

The objects of the Society are to promote social and charitable activities with particular emphasis on adventure. It celebrates the anniversary of the June 1910 visit to Cardiff by Captain Scott and his expedition team prior to their departure on the ill-fated expedition. The Society makes two awards, an annual ‘Spirit of Adventure’ award of £2,000 and a similar youth award, the ‘Sir Vivian Fuchs Award’ of £500, the funds for which are raised from membership subscriptions. Both are awarded to expeditions that exhibit the ‘spirit of adventure’ that was so nobly demonstrated by Captain Scott and The British Antarctic Expedition 1910-1913.

On the 13th June 1910, members of the business community of Cardiff entertained Captain Scott, his officers and the scientists of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910 to a dinner in the Royal Hotel, Cardiff. It was just two days before their departure South. On the 13th June 1982, the manager of the Hotel invited a group of friends to a dinner to celebrate the anniversary of that event. The Captain Scott Society was formed from those who attended that function and the Alexandra Room, in which the original dinner had been held, was renamed the Captain Scott Room.

The Society annually commemorates the anniversary with a dinner that recreates, as far as possible, the original occasion as documented in a menu card that survives from that dinner, bearing signatures of many members of the expedition.

In order to further the Spirit of Adventure, the Society makes two awards each year, the funds for which are raised from membership subscriptions.

The Society also supports charities in keeping with its military and naval foundation.

In response to an initiative of the Antarctic Heritage Trust, the Society has raised the capital for a memorial to the golden age of Antarctic exploration. It was erected adjacent to the lock through which the expedition vessel, the SS Terra Nova, departed Cardiff Dock in 1910. The Memorial was unveiled by the Princess Royal in 2003.

The Society is also proud to have donated a bust of Petty Officer Edgar Evans to the City of Swansea and for having been involved in the acquisition of the binnacle of the expedition vessel ‘Terra Nova’ for display in the PierHead Building, Cardiff Bay, once the Docks Offices, headquarters of the Taff Vale Railway and now Public Presentation Centre for the National Assembly for Wales.

The Society has been honoured to count as its President, Sir Peter Scott, Sir Vivian Fuchs, Professor Robert Swan and Lord Mountevans, Jeffrey Evans.