Annual Report of the Council for 2007

The officers (other than the Vice Presidents) hold office for one year, the Vice Presidents hold office for seven years and the other members for four years.

The Society’s main agents and advisers are:

Bankers: National Westminster Bank plc, 3 High Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1XU

Auditors: Reeves & Neylan, 37 St Margaret’s Street, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 2TU

Stockbrokers: UBS Wealth Management (UK) Ltd, 1 Curzon Street, London, W1J 5UB

Stockbrokers’ nominee company holding the Society’s investments:

Productive Nominees Ltd, 1 Curzon Street, London, W1J 5UB

Structure, governance and management

The Society is an unincorporated association governed by its rules which are published in Archaeologia Cantiana from time to time and copies of which can be obtained from the Hon. General Secretary. It is also registered as a charity with the Inland Revenue which has made a direction under section 201 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 which permits certain members (generally those whose employment is related to the Society’s activities) to obtain income tax relief on their subscriptions to the Society; further details can be obtained from the Hon. General Secretary.

The governing body of the Society is the Council whose members are its charity trustees and are elected by the members of the Society at its annual general meeting in May each year. A list of them is set out above.

The Society’s activities are carried out throughout the ancient county of Kent. It has no staff and its officers are only paid out-of-pocket expenses. It co-operates with its affiliated societies and the organizations to which it is affiliated or of which it is a member. In particular it co-operates with the Canterbury Archaeological Trust in promotion of education. Its activities are carried out by the Council, committees and officers.

Members of the Council are nominated by the members of the Society and elected at its annual general meeting. The Council does not consider it proper for it to be involved in this process beyond advising members of their right of nomination.

Objectives and activities

The Society is established to promote the study and publication of arch-aeology and history in all their branches, especially within the ancient county of Kent. The Society’s area of benefit is mainly (but not exclusively) the ancient county of Kent which is considered to be the administrative County of Kent, Medway Council and the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and part of Lewisham.

Achievements and performance

Annual General Meeting: the Society’s annual general meeting was held at Canterbury on Saturday the 19th May 2007 when the Council’s annual report and the accounts for 2006 were accepted and Messrs Reeves and Neylan were re-appointed auditors. The officers and members of the Council were elected; details are set out above under Administrative Details. Dr J. Whyman was elected a Patron of the Society. The following subscription rates were increased with effect from 1st January 2008: individuals to £25, joint members to £30 and affiliated societies to £25. Following the business meeting presentations were made by Dr Paul Cullen on the study of Kent place names, Mr Paul Cumming on the KCC’s Exploring Kent’s Past project and computerisation of the sites and monuments record and Mrs Lesley Feakes on the role of local groups with particular reference to the Lenham group.

Sesquicentennial Events: the Society celebrated its 150th anniversary with a special programme of events. The main event was an exhibition The Hidden Treasures of Kent held in Maidstone Museum from May to September. This displayed many artefacts from Kent which had not been seen in the County since their discovery in the 19th century and, in particular, a themed selection of Anglo-Saxon jewellery. Substantial help was received from the staff of the museum and from a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. There were two well attended lecture days in Medway and Canterbury covering a wide variety of archaeological and local history subjects. The latter was followed by a dinner at the University of Kent at Canterbury at which the first Hasted Prize was presented, as reported below. The other social event was a very enjoyable garden party with a 1920s theme at Allington Castle kindly hosted by our member Prof. Robert Worcester.

Fieldwork: some members took part in the continuing excavations of the important site at Ringlemere (where the gold cup had been found) and a grant was made towards the cost of the work there. Financial support was also given to fieldwork at Lyminge which was designed to involve the local community. Work continued on post excavation work on the Abbey Farm Roman villa site and a further report by Keith Parfitt appeared in Archaeologia Cantiana. The resistivity meter and other equipment was loaned to other groups.

Publications: volume cxxvii (2007) of Archaeologia Cantiana was pub-lished and maintained its usual high standard and good range of papers and book reviews. This volume was larger than usual and contained papers marking the Society’s 150th anniversary as well as the first annual biblio-graphy of books and articles on Kent history. Over 500 copies of the DVD containing back numbers of Archaeologia Cantiana were sold to members. The first Hasted Prize was awarded to Dr Celia Cordle for her thesis Hop Cultivation and Marketing: Wealden Kent & Southwark 1744 - 2000 which will be revised for publication. Further grants were awarded from the Kent History Fund for local history publications.

Churches: the usual programme of visits to churches was continued and attempts made to enhance the architectural and architectural variety of those selected and ensure a fair geographical distribution. A successful study afternoon, A Parish Pump Revolution, considered the local impact of the Reformation.

Historic Buildings: a tour of Shoreham and Eynsford Castle was arranged in conjunction with the Hon. Excursions Secretary and a small group of members investigated a possible detached medieval kitchen in Shoreham. Its conference in Lenham in October was attended by about 70 who enjoyed talks on archaeological and archival aspects of building research and visited the nearby spectacular barn where lessons learnt in an earlier talk were put into practice.

Library and collections: the unique collection of books, pamphlets and visual records of the history and archaeology of Kent and its towns, settlements and other places continued to increase. Two significant gifts were received from members: an important set of records and documents relating to the Manor of Ashford from Mr Arthur Ruderman and an im-pressive collection of over 3,000 slides of Kent churches from Dr John Physick. The Library continues to be used for educational courses on aspects of history and archaeology. The Hon. Curator selected further artefacts from the Society’s collections for conservation work by the Museum of London.

Web Sites: the Society has two web sites: www.kentarchaeology.ac and www.kentarcheology.org.uk. The former contains indexes of the Library’s contents and guidance on its use as well as a growing number of transcriptions of records and papers and on Kent history. The org.uk site received around 2,000 visits a day, the contents and index pages of Archaeologia Cantiana, tithe award schedules and churchyard memorial inscriptions being very popular. Material from the census data in the Victoria County History and from documents about Ashford Manor were among the new material added during the year.

Education: the Society continued to support the Canterbury Archaeo-logical Trust’s Archaeology in Education Service and the North Downs Young Archaeologists Club. The CAT KIT project entered phase two by producing 10 kits for schools outside the Canterbury district and a grant received subsequently will enable the number to be increased to 100 for use across the County. The new CAT BOX loans service for schools was launched making over 300 boxes of artefacts, models and replicas available. Other outreach work took place such as an exhibition of photographs of local excavations for New Romney Old School Trust, members of Canterbury Young Archaeologists Club helping in the field.

Place-names: the Place-names Committee continued to monitor work on research and publications on place names and, in particular, support Dr Paul Cullen’s work on volume 1 of Place-Names of Kent.

Membership: there were 1,401 members (which excludes institutional sub-scribers and corresponding societies) at the end of the year which was 10 less than at the end of the previous year despite recruiting 70 new members.

Activities for members: there was a special programme of events to mark the Society’s 150th anniversary which is mentioned above. In addition a visit to Yaldham Manor was arranged by the Membership Committee. The Newsletter continued to be produced four times a year and provide information about activities of the Society and others as well as news about archaeological work and local history in the county.

Relations with other bodies: the Society appoints members or represent-atives to a number of other organisations. Regular reports have also been received from the CBA South East and the Standing Conference on London Archaeology. The Society has regularly been represented at meetings of the Kent History Federation.

Financial review

The accompanying financial statements for the year ended the 31st December 2007 show the current state of the Society’s finances which its Council con-siders to be sound. They comply with the Council’s under-standing of the current statutory requirements and the requirements of the Society’s rules.

Investments: the trustees seek, in the management of their investments, a balance between income and capital growth. The Finance Committee over-sees the management of the Society’s investments. The portfolio, managed by UBS Wealth Management (UK) Ltd, decreased by 1.7% and now stands at £1,250,416 They currently yield 3.59%. The C.O.I.F. investments, which currently yield 2.9%, increased in value from £87,517 to £89,347.

Investment powers: the Society’s investment powers are those given by the general law; its rules do not give it any special investment powers. The Council has delegated some of its investment powers to UBS Wealth Management (UK) Ltd in accordance with a scheme made by the Charity Commissioners on the 18th April 1994.

Allen Grove Local History Fund: the Society administers the Allen Grove Local History Fund which was given in the will of the late Allen Grove. Its objects are to promote research, preservation and enjoyment of local history. These objects are consistent with those of the Society. It is a restricted fund and is invested separately from the Society’s other investments. In accordance with the terms of the legacy, decisions on how the fund is to be spent are taken by the Society’s officers. During the year six grants totalling £1,400 were awarded towards the costs of producing publications on local history and providing equipment for two new heritage centres.

Policy on reserves: the Council budgets each year to spend a sum consid-erably in excess of current income and tries to maintain reserves approp-riate to allow this to continue.

The Society relies on its officers and other members giving their time freely to organise its activities. Without those contributions it would have to spend a substantial sum on salaries.

A.I. Moffat, Hon. General Secretary
on behalf of the Council 23rd February 2008

KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR 2007

The Council of the Society presents its report and statement of accounts for the year ending 31 December 2007.

Administrative details of the charity, its trustees & advisers

The Society is a charity registered with the Charity Commission under number 223382. The principal address of the Society is The Museum, St Faith’s Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1LH. However, correspondence should be addressed to the relevant officer. The members of the governing body of the Society (which is its Council whose members are its charity trustees) during the period covered by this report were:

D. Bacchus ***

M. Berg

K.J. Fryer **

J.M. Gibson

D.J. Goacher **

P.A. Harlow

R. Higgs ****

K.H. Kersey

R.F. Le Gear *

A. Richardson

S.M. Sweetinburgh

C.P. Ward *

S.H. Willis

COMMITTEES OF THE SOCIETY

Churches Committee

P.A. Lawrence (Chairman), Mrs E.M.B. Nussbaum (Secretary), Mrs M. Berg,

D.E. Carder, G.J. Davey, J.D. Davidson, K.J. Fryer, Mrs J. Gibbs, Mrs D. Goacher,

Dr P. Lee, Mrs J.M. Saynor, Dr S.M. Sweetinburgh and the Hon. General Secretary.

Education Committee

I.A. Coulson (Chairman), Miss M. Green (Secretary), Dr P.B. Bennett, E.P. Connell,

A. Harmsworth, Ms C. Hodge, Mrs E.A. Palmer, Dr F.H. Panton, Ms H. Stephens,

C.P. Ward and the Hon. General Secretary.

Fieldwork Committee

Dr A. Richardson (Chairman), N. Aldridge, Miss E. Boast, Mrs S.B. Broomfield,

V. Burrows, E.P. Connell, A.J. Daniels, Miss E. Dyson, Dr M.R. Eddy, Mrs L. Feakes,

R.F. LeGear, K. Parfitt, C.R. Pout, Dr M.C.W. Still, C.P. Ward, I.M.T. Wigston,

Dr S.H. Willis and the Hon. General Secretary.

Finance and Investment Committee

The Hon. Treasurer (Chairman), Mrs S.B. Broomfield, Dr C.W. Chalklin,

D.A.H. Cleggett, R. Nelson-Grace, J.D.C. Noble, P.E. Oldham, Dr F.H. Panton,

C.R. Pout and the Hon. General Secretary.

Historic Buildings Committee

J.H.C. Proudfoot (Chairman), M.L.M. Clinch (Secretary), E.F. Bates,

D.E. Carder, Dr C.W. Chalklin, R.A.C. Cockett, Mrs M.E. Connor, A. Cooksey,

Mrs A.D. Davies, M. Fitzgerald, Mrs D.J. Goacher, P. Lambert, C.R. Pout,

Mrs J.M. Saynor, Ms C. Wolstencroft and the Hon. General Secretary.

Library and Muniments Committee

The Hon. Librarian (Chairman), K. Wittwer (Secretary), D.G. Anstey,

E.P. Connell, D.T. Jones, M.A. Perring, R.N. Rolinson, A. Smith,

R.G. Thomas, J. Walters, C.P. Ward, A.G. Webster, the Hon. Curator

and the Hon. General Secretary.

Membership and Publicity Committee

Mrs M.T. Lawrence (Chairman), Mrs S.B. Broomfield (Secretary),

Ms D.J. Cole, E.P. Connell, Mrs K.H. Kersey, Mrs C. Louw, Mrs J. Sage,

the Hon. Membership Secretary, the Hon. Excursions Secretary,

the Information Officer, the Press Officer and the Hon. General Secretary.

Place-Names Committee

P.A. Harlow (Chairman), Mrs A.L. Thompson (Secretary),

Dr P. Cullen (Academic Advisor), Mrs Z. Bamping, M. Bateson,

E.P. Connell, Mrs M.T. Lawrence, Miss E. Melling, Ms I. Shub,

C.P. Ward, K. Wittwer and the Hon. General Secretary.

Publications Committee

Prof. D. Killingray (Chairman), Dr J.M. Gibson (Secretary),

Dr C.W. Chalklin, Dr P.H.G. Draper, Dr M.R. Eddy, Ms E.A. Finn,

Miss E. Melling, Dr F.H. Panton, Ms D. Saunders, Dr J. Thirsk,

the Hon. Editor, the Hon. Treasurer and the Hon. General Secretary.