Area Organisers (AOs) are arachnologists who have undertaken to collate and help verify spider data for their areas (usually counties and vice counties). They are usually able to provide valuable assistance to beginners and may run field meetings to help record spiders in their areas. Please approach them for help but remember they do their work on an entirely voluntary basis, and can only do as much as time allows. Records and record cards should normally be passed through the relevant AO.

An up-to-date list of Area Organisers is occasionally published in the SRS Newsletter and will also be available on the members section of the BAS website as part of the BAS Handbook, but this page provides the up-to-date details held by the scheme for Area Organisers.

Basically, an Area Organiser acts as a co-ordinator for spider records in an area. An AO needs to be able to build up a picture of the spider fauna of their area or county and recognise when identifications are likely to need checking or confirmation. They therefore either need to be able to confirm species identification themselves, or be able to send specimens to someone who can - such as the National Organiser or our ultimate authority, Peter Merrett! The essential quality is to know your limitations and ask for doubtful or difficult specimens to be confirmed - unreliable data are worse than no data! Another role of the AO is to try and stimulate interest in the county or area and get other people working on spider recording. Even a few people can make a real difference - in Essex for example there has been a core of just 4 people since 1986. One of the aims of the Spider Recording Scheme is to try and obtain better coverage of Britain, and an AO should be encouraging this within their area or county. It is therefore important for AOs to provide local arachnologists with feedback so that they can see the results of their labours.

The Recording Scheme-s idea of the role of an "ideal" AO is as follows:

• to collate all county records and generate feedback for all their local active recorders by keeping them up-to-date with the current status of species in the county;
• to allow the production of up-to-date county distribution maps for all the species in order to help people see where the gaps are and look for possible distribution patterns;
• to verify and validate records for the county, recognising the local significance of records and sending specimens to national specialists whenever necessary - it is not essential that Area Organisers are themselves "experts" but should be able to refer material to national referees prepared to provide an opinion reasonably quickly;
• to maintain a database of county records, preferably on computer and in a form which allows ready exchange of data;
• to pass data on to the SRS, check nationally produced maps and liaise with Local Record Centres to enable an exchange of verified data which can enter a national database managed by the national recording scheme.

In addition to the above points, the Area Organiser should aim to publish (as a minimum) a short note in the SRS newsletter on the spider recording undertaken within their vice-county/ counties on a regular basis (at least biannually) in the previous year with information on the notable species recorded.  This should ensure that all members are kept up to date with recording effort.  In doing so, this ought to highlight to new members the type of activity undertaken within their region and encourage active participation in the forthcoming year.

Contact details are available to logged-on members.

VC	ViceCounty	AreaOrganiser
1	Cornwall West	Berry, Tylan
2	Cornwall East	Berry, Tylan
3	Devon South	Berry, Tylan
4	Devon North	Berry, Tylan
5	Somerset South	Farr-Cox, Mr. Francis
6	Somerset North	Farr-Cox, Mr. Francis
7	Wilts. North	Vacant
8	Wilts. South	Vacant
9	Dorset	Poole, Jeremy
10	Isle of Wight	Denton, Jonty
11	Hants. South	Denton, Jonty
12	Hants. North	Denton, Jonty
13	Sussex West	Lyons, Graeme
14	Sussex East	Lyons, Graeme
15	Kent East	Tony Russell-Smith
16	Kent West	Tony Russell-Smith
17	Surrey	Denton, Jonty
18	Essex South	Harvey, Mr. Peter
19	Essex North	Harvey, Mr. Peter
20	Herts.	Carr, Mr David
21	Middlesex	Milner, Mr. Edward
22	Berks.	Parker, Bill
23	Oxford	Bee, Mr. Lawrence
24	Bucks.	Parker, Bill
25	Suffolk East	Lee, Mr. Paul
26	Suffolk West	Lee, Mr. Paul
27	Norfolk East	Pip Collyer
28	Norfolk West	Pip Collyer
29	Cambridge	Carr, Mr David
30	Bedford	Vacant
31	Hunts.	Vacant
32	Northampton	Vacant
33	Gloucester East	Michael Davis
34	Gloucester West	Michael Davis
35	Monmouth	Gallon, Richard
36	Hereford	Vacant
37	Worcester	Vacant
38	Warwick	Vacant
39	Stafford	Vacant
40	Salop.	Cane-Honeysett, Nigel
41	Glamorgan	Gallon, Mr Richard
42	Brecon	Gallon, Mr Richard
43	Radnor	Gallon, Mr Richard
44	Carmarthen	Gallon, Mr Richard
45	Pembroke	Gallon, Mr Richard
46	Cardigan	Gallon, Mr Richard
47	Montgomery	Gallon, Mr Richard
48	Merioneth	Gallon, Mr Richard
49	Caernarvon	Gallon, Mr Richard
50	Denbigh	Gallon, Mr Richard
51	Flint	Gallon, Mr Richard
52	Anglesey	Gallon, Mr Richard
53	Lincoln South	Imogen Wilde
54	Lincoln North	Imogen Wilde
55	Leics. and Rutland	Alan Cann
56	Notts.	Vacant
57	Derby	Vacant
58	Cheshire	Gallon, Mr Richard
59	Lancashire South	Vacant
60	Lancashire West	Vacant
61	York South East	Richard Wilson
62	York North East	Richard Wilson
63	York South West	Richard Wilson
64	York Mid West	Richard Wilson
65	York North West	Richard Wilson
66	Durham	Richard Wilson
67	Northumberland South	Richard Wilson
68	Northumberland North	Richard Wilson
69	Westmorland with North Lancs.	Blackledge, David
70	Cumberland	Blackledge, David
72	Dumfries	Bob Merritt
73	Kirkcudbright	Bob Merritt
74	Wigtown	Bob Merritt
75	Ayr	Cathrine, Mr Chris
76	Renfrew	Cathrine, Mr Chris
77	Lanark	Kilner, Michael
78	Peebles	Cathrine, Mr Chris
79	Selkirk	Cathrine, Mr Chris
80	Roxburgh	Cathrine, Mr Chris
81	Berwick	Cathrine, Mr Chris
82	East Lothian (Haddington)	Baird, Katty
83	Midlothian (Edinburgh)	Cathrine, Mr Chris
84	West Lothian (Linlithgow)	Cathrine, Mr Chris
85	Fife (with Kinross)	Lavery, Alastair
86	Stirling	Kilner, Michael
87	Perth West	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
88	Perth Mid	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
89	Perth East	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
90	Angus (Forfar)	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
91	Kincardine	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
92	Aberdeen South	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
93	Aberdeen North	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
94	Banff	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
95	Moray (Elgin)	Davidson, Mr. Mike B.
96	East Inverness	Vacant
97	West Inverness	Vacant
98	Argyll Main	Cathrine, Mr Chris
99	Dumbarton	Cathrine, Mr Chris
100	Clyde Isles	Cathrine, Mr Chris
101	Kintyre	Cathrine, Mr Chris
102	Ebudes South	Cathrine, Mr Chris
103	Ebudes Mid	Vacant
104	Ebudes North	Vacant
105	Ross West	Vacant
106	Ross East	Vacant
107	Sutherland East	Vacant
108	Sutherland West	Vacant
109	Caithness	Kilner, Michael
110	Hebrides	Vacant
111	Orkneys	Milner, Mr. Edward
112	Shetlands	Milner, Mr. Edward
113	Channel Islands	Vacant