1998 Annual General Meeting Report

Friendly hot and fine weather welcomed the Society for its Annual General Meeting in the ancient town of Queenborough. The quiet but ancient town proved to be an ideal place to visit and meet.

Before the meeting members were able to talk and enjoy refreshments provided by members of the Sheppey Local History Society and look at bookstalls and displays by Archaeology South East, John Gardner the bookbinder and others.

The meeting marked the retirement of Kenneth Gravett as President. After noting the sad death of Arthur Harrison, who had been Hon. General Secretary for twenty five years, he picked out some highlights from his ten years as President and expressed satisfaction at the increasing number of activities provided for members. Our Hon. Membership Secretary, Margaret Lawrence paid tribute to his achievements and presented him with a gift subscribed by members of the Society.

Paul Oldham, on taking office as President, spoke about his proposal to ask the Council to re-examine the Society's role in consultation with members and others His remarks are reported elsewhere. Other changes were the election of Dr Michael Still as Hon. Curator, Michael Nightingale of Cromarty as a Vice President, and Dr Paul Cullen, Terry Lawson and Peter Leach as new members of the Council.

After the formal business Brian Philp presented the President with a collection of letters of A. A. Arnold (a former officer of the Society) going back to 1881 which he had found inserted in his set of Archaeologia Cantiana, Simon Pratt of Canterbury Archaeological Trust described excavations at the nearby site at Halfway which had produced material from the mesolithic to medieval periods and Jonathan Fryer welcomed the members to Queenborough and spoke about its history.

In the afternoon members of the Sheppey Local History Society conducted parties of members around the town, its church and the Guildhall (which contains a small museum) where they provided further refreshments to round off a very enjoyable and interesting day.

PRESENTATION TO THE KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

At the 1998 Annual General Meeting of the K.A.S., held at Queenborough in May, Brian Philp presented an important collection of letters to the Society. These had been written from about 1881 to 1930 and related to matters of archaeological interest, mostly in the Rochester and Gravesend areas. Many were signed by early officers of the K.A.S. and leading Kent archaeologists. Together they form a unique insight into a period of about 50 years.

Brian Philp explained how the letters had come into his possession and how he thought the presentation to be appropriate on such an auspicious occasion, with the election of a new President (Councillor Paul Oldham) and also the approach of the new Millennium.

In 1970 a Col. R. C. M. Arnold, then of Swerford but earlier of Kent, had died and his widow had asked Ronald Jessup, a K.A.S. Vice President, to find a young 4 member of the Society who was deeply involved in Kent archaeology who would make good use of her late husband's complete set of Archaeologia Cantiana. Ronald nominated Brian who then travelled to Northants one cold November day and picked up the books. On examining the early volumes he found they contained some 60 letters neatly filed between the pages! A closer inspection showed that the early volumes also had the book-plate of Augustus Arnold, to whom the letters had been written. He was a well-known solicitor at Rochester, from an important local family, a great scholar and a contributor to Archaeologia Cantiana. He had been born in 1835 and had joined the K.A.S. in 1860, becoming a Council member in 1882, a Vice President in 1912 and also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1891. He died in 1932, aged 97, having been a K.A.S. member for 72 years.

Mr. Philp explained to the A.G.M. that Augustus Arnold must have collected Vols. I (1858) - XLII (1931) and on his death they had been inherited by Col. Arnold (his Grandson) who added Vols. XLIV (1932) - LXXXIV (1969), having joined the K.A.S. in 1933. Brian Philp had himself joined the K.A.S. in 1954, as a very keen schoolboy, and has added Vols. LXXXV (1970) - CXVI (1996) to the set, hence some 120 volumes in all. In 1971 he had then given all his own volumes (from 1939) to the Bromley & West Kent Group in the spirit of the original generous donation. - The letters filed in the books had, interestingly, been preserved by Col. Arnold for 28 years (1932-70) and by Brian Philp also for 28 years (1970-1998).

After the A.G.M. Brian Philp consulted with Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, a former K.A.S. President and Richard Ansell, a former K.A.S. officer and agreed that he would arrange for the total collection to be passed on (eventually) to another keen young member of the K.A.S. to perpetuate the tradition started by Augustus Arnold. Mr. Philp added, that it might be additionally interesting if he also filed letters on K.A.S. matters in with the later volumes for discovery in years to come!

Kenneth Gravett Retirement of the President

The retirement of the President was marked by the presentation of a cheque with a list of members who had subscribed to it. Mr. Gravett was thanked for the ten previous years which he had given to the Society and for being a most active president involving himself in all aspects of its work. Added to this had been his personal interest in, and encouragement of, those who sought his advice. He was also thanked for being willing to share his inexhaustible knowledge of Kent buildings and for continuing with Building Recorders Conferences and his work with the Historic Buildings Committee.

MESSAGE FROM THE PAST PRESIDENT

I would like to thank members for their kind comments upon my retirement and for their most generous present. In my anticipated extra spare time (which I haven't seen yet!) I hope to recommence photography and have spent the major part of my present on a new exposure meter, which determines paper grade as well as exposure, for use with my enlarger. I shall think kindly of the K.A.S. when I use it. I have also started to buy some books.

Kenneth Gravett