The Annual General Meeting was held at Maidstone on the morning of Saturday 18th May. Council's Annual Report and Statements of Accounts for 1984 were approved nem. con.
Officers
All the retiring Officers, including Vice-Presidents, were re-elected, the Hon. Librarian, Dr Peter Draper, after a ballot had been taken (430 votes to 149).
Council
After a ballot, Mr E. P. Connell (518 votes), Mr J. Owen B.A., (433 votes), Mr R. J. Spain, C.ENG.,M.I.MECH.E. (496 votes), Mr P. J. Tester F.S.A. (495 votes) and Mr W. N. Yates M.A.,F.R.HIST.s., (412 votes), and Mrs M. Lovering (442 votes) were elected to fill the vacant seats on the Council. Mr B. J. Philp F.S.A. (211 votes) and Mr N. W. Ratcliffe (153 votes) were not elected.
Rules
Amendments to the Rules, giving a seven-year tenure of office to Vice-Presidents, were approved nem. con.
Resolutions
Both Resolutions were ruled out of order on a technicality, following an objection by Mrs E. Philp. Their substance was, however, discussed under A.O.B. when:- Mr Oldham explained the intention behind item 9 of the Agenda, which was to promote discussion of archaeology and local history in a non-controversial atmosphere and could well be combined with the Archaeology at Work meeting to be held in Sevenoaks. The meeting was sympathetic to the suggestion, which the Membership Committee would consider further.
Mr Philp spoke on the intention behind item 10 of the Agenda, and the President drew attention to the prepared statement circulated at the meeting and said that while many of Mr Philp's suggestions were worthy of consideration, a resolution at a General Meeting was not the right approach. He promised that Council would give careful consideration to these or any similar proposals. The suggestion that a Special General Meeting might be called to consider these matters was strongly negatived.
Ballot
Mr Burden and Mr Philp attempted to introduce an emergency resolution relating to the ballot, but Mr Oldham and Mr Gravett argued that this could not be in order as no notice had been given and proposed that the emergency resolution should not be considered. This was carried by 94 votes to 15.
The North Cray Hall House in the course of erection - Summer 1984.
Afternoon Lecture
In the afternoon, members heard a most enlightening and entertaining talk by Mr Richard Harris, Research Director of the Weald and Downland Museum at Singleton. His description of the detailed study made of the North Cray house and of its re-erection at Singleton was particularly interesting to our members as the Society has been very much involved in the chequered history of this house, and all were delighted at its highly successful outcome. He went on to describe the careful study made of the medieval and seventeenth-century house at Walderton, prior to its re-erection at Singleton.
Awaiting the final touches and application of daub - Spring 1985.
Display
Much interest was shown in the exhibit mounted by the Maidstone Area Archaeological Group, featuring their excavations on the Roman Villa site at Snodland.
As usual, the Society's Bookstall was much in evidence, with great interest being shown in the back numbers of Arch.Cant. that were for sale.
Arthur Harrison
Hon. General Secretary
