Welcome to the March 2016 Newsletter

2015 was a sad year for the Society in that we lost Ian Coulson, the President, and Peter Stutchbury, former Hon.Gen.Secretary. A great many members attended Ian’s funeral and Peter’s memorial service. Obituaries for them both will be included in the forthcoming volume of Archaeologia Cantiana.

A new President will be elected at the AGM on 21 May. Members will receive notice and the papers in the post in due course and we hope to see you there. Bob Cockcroft, the current Hon.Gen. Secretary, will not be standing for re-election, so the AGM will also be electing his replacement. Bob took over from Peter and has worked tirelessly in what is a very complex and demanding job for the past year.

This will be the last newsletter to be edited by Lyn Palmer. Lyn has done sterling service as newsletter editor for many years and her skill and expertise will be missed. She has masterminded the changes in style and content that have made the newsletter a readable, scholarly and valued publication.

The Society now has a new librarian, Ruiha Smalley, who has taken over from Pernille Richards. Ruiha has had many years of experience working as a volunteer in national and local museums. She has a background in information management and worked with the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Kent. During her time in office Pernille made many changes to the Library and rationalised the material stored in other locations. In any mention of the Library it would be very remiss of me not to mention the group of library volunteers who carry out a wide variety of tasks in there. They deserve our thanks for the dedicated work they do.

This issue of the Newsletter carries a full listing of KAS events for 2016, together with those of other organisations in Kent and the South East. We hope you find much to enjoy.

Mike Clinch