Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor
For the benefit of members, may I be permitted to add some detail to the President’s kind remarks about our past President, Paul Oldham (The President’s Column, Issue 109).
In the weeks before the Society’s 1969 AGM, Paul wrote to members seeking support for his resolution:
‘The sale of any item from the collection of antiquities, pictures and documents, owned by the Society, is detrimental to the interests of archaeology in Kent. In consequence, no further sale of such articles is to take place without the consent of members at a General Meeting.’
Two years before, officers had sold an important portrait from the collection bequeathed to the Society in 1938 by Sir John Twisden. In the early 1960s, the Margary bequest was still some years away, and the Society’s Council often took big decisions about money without consulting ordinary members, who in 1969 were unaware that an asset of the Society had been lost. After a stormy AGM debate, Paul’s resolution was passed with acclamation. As a result, members can today view Sir John’s collection, which continues to be housed at Bradbourne House, East Malling.
Paul certainly played an active part in the early years of the Kent Archaeological Research Groups’ Council (KARGC). However, its actual formation came about as the result of a widespread desire among field research groups working in Kent for a body that would encourage county-wide collaboration and make it easier to share information and learning. A first meeting of the ‘Ad hoc Committee of Kentish Field Archaeologists’ took place at Rochester on 21 May 1964. Recorded as being present at the meeting were:
‘Mrs Howe, Mrs Piercy Fox & Miss Waugh, and Messrs Bradshaw, Detsicas, Harrison, Horner, Howe, Jackson, Lyle, Meates, Ocock, Parsons, Philp, Tester, & one other’.
My notes of the meeting reminded me that discussion was dominated by the thorny subject of a proposal to create a new Council for British Archaeology (CBA) regional group, a Group that would see Kent ‘unite’ with Surrey. The reason for this preoccupation with CBA matters was that some of those attending the May 21st meeting had been at an earlier informal gathering, also held in Rochester, at which an invitation from CBA Group 10 (London) was discussed. This unexpected communication suggested that Kent should join with CBA Group 10 and not support the creation of a new CBA Group 11B. In addition to exploring reactions to the CBA initiated problem, the earlier gathering, held under the auspices of the Lower Medway Group (of which I was secretary at the time), had gone on to discuss ideas for establishing better links between active local groups working in Kent and to consider suggestions for launching a new body to represent Kent field archaeology. The outcome was the 21 May meeting and ultimately the KARGC.
The inaugural meeting of the KARGC would take place at Canterbury on Saturday 10th October 1964. Bill Penn became KARGC chairman, Graeme Horner its secretary and Brian Philp, its treasurer. The KARGC was later renamed the Council for Kentish Archaeology (CKA) which, in the years since, has benefited Kentish archaeology by adopting a novel approach to rescue excavations, public relations, media briefings and the writing up of history.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Ocock, KAS member