Lynsted with Kingsdown Society
Newsletter Issue No.41

March 2012

Welcome to our Newsletter that goes to Society Members as well as visitors who ask to receive it because of their interest in the Parish, its people and events.  Through this service, we will alert you to recent additions to the records of the Society and forthcoming events. All newsletters can be browsed on the Society’s web site.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

If there are any outstanding renewals our Membership Secretary (Elaine) would love to hear from you! We are grateful for your continued support of our Society and hope that you will continue to find our events and publications (web and printed) of interest.  For the first time, our membership numbers have grown above 100!

If you have ideas about potential talks or visits for our Members’ enjoyment, please do let our Events Secretary (Fiona) know.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

  • Report: on “The Making of the Queen Mary 2” talk by Brian Sharman
  • 21st March: 8pm: “Wildlife Photography”.  An illustrated talk by Terry Whittaker, an award-winning photographer specialising in wildlife conservation and the environment.  Greenstreet Methodist Church Hall. All welcome.
  • 25th April: 8pm: “Red Sails: The Thames Sailing Barge”.  A film followed by a question and answer session with Michael Maloney (producer and director).  Norton Village Hall. All welcome.

NEW RESEARCH

  • Parish Newsletters from 1977 onwards are gradually being added to the web site giving an insight into our Parish, its people and businesses over the years.  See below under Social History Project for links.

THE SOCIETY SOCIAL HISTORY PROJECT

Recording and Archiving of Local History

Report on 2011 Open Day now available on the web site.  Some important and surprising discoveries.  If you missed the Open Day display material, we shall be displaying at the Lynsted Traditional Village Fete on 29th August (Bank Holiday).

The subgroup are continuing to captioned scanned material - more recently moving on to the collection of documents from early Parish Council records - including some fascinating records for the royal celebrations that we are also collecting together with the intention of publishing a document toward the end of this year at the AGM.
Keep it coming! All contributions are welcome at any time.

Transcription Volunteers Update

Thank you’s go to those who responded to our cry for help in copy-typing to help us transcribe documents that cannot all be done automatically on a PC.  If you can spare a bit of time, there is always more to be done!

Documents posted onto the web site as they are transcribed.

If you would like to add your name to our transcribers, we should be very grateful - please do contact us. We can cope with typewritten or computer transcriptions of the wide selection of small and large documents.  This is the kind of task that does not have fixed deadlines and can be fitted into your own timetables.  Any help in this direction would be very gratefully received by the project sub-group. With your help, these fascinating documents can then be publish and shared through the web site and Society publications in due course.

To learn more about this project or contribute material or stories, please contact us using parishrecords@lynsted.com. Latest news and published documents can be found on the dedicated pages for this Society project.

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FUTURE SOCIETY EVENTS

  • Early May: details to be confirmed. A talk on Morgan cars (with examples on show) - when it should be warm and light enough to be outside! 
  • 12th May: Of possible interest to our Members: Kent History Federation Annual Conference - 9.15 am to 16.30 pm with a fascinating range of associated talks and visits.  Se the web-site for more information.
  • 8th or 11th June (tbc): Members Only.  Again due to popular demand, there will be an opportunity to visit the Hay Meadow in East Sussex that we so enjoyed last year.  A fine example of unspoilt countryside.  Numbers will be restricted, so please declare your interest to our Chairman, Neil Anderson.
  • 16th June: All Afternoon in the RSPB Dungeness Reserve: A presentation by Nikki Gammans about her work to reintroduce a rare bumble bee to this unspoilt habitat followed by an opportunity to explore the reserve and identify bees/bumble bees.
  • Mid-June: tbc: Morgan cars presentation, with cars to view.

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INFORMATION REQUESTS RECEIVED BY THE SOCIETY

UPDATE: DID YOU KNOW MARIA REES (nee COURT)?
You may remember this question in January. We had a simple boxed copy of The Book of Common Prayer that we wanted to pass on if relations could be identified. We did get some personal recollections and understand that Maria did not have any family and moved away to Sandwich.  We shall hold onto the book and accompanying letter in our archives.

History of Champion’s Mill and its Champion family connections (also Osborne connections) - question from a visitor.  Please let us know if you know more about this fascinating remnant (or the Union Mill along Claxfield Lane).

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NEW WEB LINKS THAT YOU MAY FIND INTERESTING

  • British Library Newspaper Archive - 40 million pages, 300 years at the time of launch - November 2011.  Searching is free; downloading images is priced in “units”. 
    You can subscribe to different packages that allow more or fewer downloads to suit your pocket or interests.
  • “Make Kent Quicker” Campaign”: Get decent broadband in rural communities.  Government funds can be made available to communities to help bring super-fast broadband (or improvements to 2mbps) provided people register an interest with KCC on www.makekentquicker.com. 

If you have found interesting web sites covering subjects we try to cover, please do let us know.

 

Thank you for your continued support and interest.

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