Kent Archaeological Society’s Allen Grove Local History Fund

Grants of up to £500 (or more for ‘exceptional projects’) will be awarded next year (2014) by the Kent Archaeological Society’s Allen Grove Local History Fund to individuals and groups who are working on important aspects of Kent’s history. The latest date by which applications must be submitted is March 31, 2014.

More than £30,000 has been distributed since the fund was established in 1994, mainly to help cover the cost of publishing books and booklets; setting up exhibitions and displays in heritage centres; completing oral history projects, and establishing archives and research centres.

This year (2013) £2,720 was shared by nine applicants.

• The Chislehurst Society. £400 for ‘The Chislehurst Chillers,’ a voluntary group that tells ghost and ghoulish stories to 10-year-old children and inspires their interest in local history by engaging them in drawing and writing activities.
• Dr Deborah Cole of Tonbridge. £295 towards the publication of ‘The Tonbridge Circular Walk - In the Footsteps of Medieval Knights,’ a book describing a 33-mile country walk in the footsteps of 24 lords and knights who one day in 1279 set off on a perambulation to establish the boundary of Tonbridge’s ‘lowy’ (castle lands).
• Folkestone and District Family History Society. £175 to buy 50 photos of war graves in Turkey, Crimea, Israel, Egypt and India of local people who died in the First World War.
• Goudhurst and Kilndown Local History Society. £250 towards publishing a book on the men and women commemorated on local war memorials.
• Harrietsham History Society. £250 towards producing a book of photographs depicting changes which have occurred in the village over a period of more than 100 years.
• The Ightham History Project. £500 towards establishing a local history archive following the completion of a book on the history of Ightham.
• Margate Civic Society. £300 to help fund an exhibition on the Margate Time Ball and Clock Tower, which were officially opened on Queen Victoria’s 70th birthday in 1889.
• Oaten Hill and District Society (Canterbury) Local History Group. £50 to buy a voice recorder with which to preserve local residents’ memories of the district for publication in a series of booklets.
• Plaxtol Local History Group. £500 towards an exhibition ‘Plaxtol at War’ and the publication of a booklet on the impact on the village of the two world wars.

The Allen Grove Local History Fund is the legacy of one of Kent’s most eminent historians. Mr Grove was Curator of Maidstone Museum from 1948 to 1975, then Curator of the KAS for 26 years (and its President in 1987/88) and Chairman of the Kent History Federation for eight years.

When he died in 1990 he left £26,000 from the proceeds of the sale of his house to the KAS, with instructions that the society should invest the legacy and distribute the interest in ways that would promote the enjoyment of Kent’s local history.

For an application form visit www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/grants or apply to KAS General Secretary, Peter Stutchbury: secretary@kentarchaeology.org.uk, tel 01303 266966.