News  |  Posted June 29, 2020

Our Society Covid-19 Response – update

cnip_illus_2-pngWe hope that you are keeping safe and well.  As the time to renew Society subscriptions approaches, we want to let you know that we are very aware of the financial strain our Fellows may be experiencing as a result of the unprecedented and continued upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Therefore, Society Trustees have agreed that any Fellow suffering financial hardship due to COVID-19 can receive a 50% discount on their subscription to the Society for the 2020/2021 subscription year.

All Fellows are entitled to claim this discount with no questions asked.

If you can pay your full subscription, or indeed donate more to help cover the costs of others’ annual membership, we would be very grateful. We value your Fellowship of the Society and subscriptions form our core income, enabling our charitable purposes to actively support the study and enjoyment of Scotland’s past.

Subscriptions are due on 1 July 2020.

Please pay your subscription online through the website where possible, as cheques are particularly problematic at this time and will take longer to process. To renew your membership online, you must first log in to the website using your Fellow’s log in details, then go to the Fellows section and click the red “Pay Your Subscription” button. You can then choose your subscription type from the drop-down menu and use the discount coupon “COVID19” at checkout to apply the 50% reduction.

If you pay by other means and would like to take advantage of the 50% subscription discount, please email the office at subscriptions@socantscot.org in advance of the subscription due date.

Direct Debits will be collected as usual on or shortly after 1 July. We can issue a refund after the collection date if necessary.

Standing Orders will need to be adjusted by Fellows themselves, or we can issue a refund. Please ensure that your Standing Order subscription is up to date in any case.

The Fellowship rates are:

Ordinary Fellow – £76 (£38 with 50% discount) or $100 ($50 with discount)
Family Fellow – £38 (£19 with 50% discount) or $50 ($25 with discount)
Over 65 Fellow – £57 (£28.50 with 50% discount) or $75 ($37.50 with discount)
Under 26 or Student Fellow – £21 (£10.50 with 50% discount) or $30 ($15 with discount)
Early Career Fellow – £38 (£19 with 50% discount) or $50 ($25 with discount)

Please see https://www.socantscot.org/join-us/fellowship-types/ for more details on the types of subscription.

If you have any questions about your subscription, please contact subscriptions@socantscot.org

The Society’s offices at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh remain closed until further notice. Staff are working from home where practicable and we shall endeavour to keep the website updated with relevant information and send Fellowship emails when appropriate. Contact with staff via e-mail remains. However, given the closure of schools and other unprecedented changes please bear with us, it may take some time to respond.  We will not be able to answer telephone calls or mail correspondence until we can return to the office.

As with many organisations around the globe that arrange events, The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is in the process of reviewing our event calendar for 2020 and making contingency plans around the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, while we can still take orders for pin badges we will not be able to send these out until staff can return to the office. Book orders currently remain unaffected, so please take the opportunity to purchase our books read up on Scotland’s past.

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is committed to following the latest Government and Public Health advice on events and public gatherings. Such advice is changing rapidly and may be different in different areas of the globe, we are requesting that Fellows across the globe take sensible precautions correct for their area, and in general cancel or postpone any Fellowship meetings/events for the moment, or move them to video-conferencing platforms.

Remember also that we have hundreds of free-to-view recordings of lectures to browse and view either from our website at https://www.socantscot.org/resources/ or on our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SocietyofAntiquariesofScotland and we also have thousands of free-to-read articles and books on our publishing platforms: http://journals.socantscot.org/ and http://books.socantscot.org/digital-books; all of which should help to pass the time and increase your knowledge of Scotland’s past!

• For more information on COVID-19 visit www.who.int
• To view Scottish Government advice visit: https://www.gov.scot/
• For NHS Scotland information visit: https://www.scot.nhs.uk/

We fully expect to re-schedule the Rhind lectures and other events that are cancelled as soon as is practicable.  Please keep an eye on the Society website and your email inbox for further information.

Wishing you good health and best wishes,

Dr David Caldwell
President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland