Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How can I join the Society?
Visit our Membership page, where you will find current Membership costs and Application Forms.
Where do we hold our events?
- We organise visits around Kent, occasionally benefitting from a superbly renovated vintage double-decker bus.
- Our presentations are generally held in:
- Greenstreet Methodist Hall - ME9 9RP;
- Norton Village Hall - ME13 0SN; or
- Lynsted Church or its Community Hall - ME9 0RQ.
How does the Society archive material?
Very broadly, we scan or photograph material that is shared with us and we store it electronically. Some original material is archived with us and some donations have been made for Society reference and not for publication.
The technical stuff ...
- Photographs: scanned at 600dpi. Usually JPEG or TIFF G4 Compression (lossless format), but we can handle most other formats.
- Printed documents: are usually scanned at 300dpi. Usually JPEG or TIFF.
- Website: we use lossless PNG format. Images are often trimmed and reduced in size to 'unify' the look-and-feel of each page or rolling presentation. Images are reduced to balance the need for images against broadband speeds of visitors. If you want to see original images, we will consider the request.
- Physical documents and artefacts: are stored in a secure cabinet.
- Oral history files and videos: stored in common file formats such as MP3/WAV/MP4 and MPEGs.
Other formats are supported for all archived material donated to us.
Our electronic Archives are regularly saved to three different locations for security purposes. Firstly, the web-site (pages are added as time permits). Secondly, the Society mobile PC. Thirdly, backups copied to a removable hard-disk held in a separate location.
Printed copies of physical documents and photographs - use acid-free (paper/card) and non-reactive (e.g. plastics) storage - both in terms of the containers that make contact with originals and the larger containers in which folders, pockets, and loose documents are stored.
What areas are of most interest to us?
Our attention ranges across the wider parish of Lynsted with Kingsdown from the North Downs (AONB) to the London Road (A2). The commercial and residential community that straddles London Road was, for centuries, officially identified and mapped as "Greenstreet". For that reason we also record and research matters affecting this community in both Teynham Parish and our Parish. "Greenstreet" still maintains a distinct identity of its own. It wasn't until the early 1900s that Faversham postal authorities weighed-in to change the status of Greenstreet. The southern side of the community falls in our Parish; the northern side sits in Teynham Parish.
We look further afield to places and communities that shed light on the living conditions and employment changes affecting our communities. We do include material from Teynham Parish, which only relatively recently emerged to fill in the space between its historic centre of Teynham Street, Barrow Green, the railway station and Greenstreet/London Road. We also take an interest in material from Faversham and Sittingbourne - our two market towns. The waters of the Swale and the Thames have also had an impact on our communities and several events have reflected this association.
We have reference material from the Iron Age through to changes in our modern communities. Every piece of information, ancient and modern, adds to the Society's contribution to local understanding of our communities, employment, geography and families.
What happened to the "Links" page?
It is still here (and updated December 2020) in the Resources section of the website. Here is a link to take you there.