Medway History Showcase 2022

By Pete Joyce

On the 15th of October 2022, approximately ninety people gathered at the RE Museum in Gillingham for the initial Medway History Showcase.

The idea initially came from Pro Mark Connelly at University Kent Canterbury under the guises of the Institute for Historical Research (IHR), and the inaugural event

was held as Kent: The gateway to the world in April at the Westgate Hall in Canterbury; this was to be followed by a similar event in Medway. The concept of the event was to provide a cross-over platform between the three tiers of history and archaeology that we regularly encounter: the academic, local societies and those with interest but no involvement. The format conceived was quite simple. Eight short talks with minimal amounts of academic language and jargon; engaging exhibitions and a family-friendly environment with plenty of space for people to meet, explore and engage.

Unfortunately, the Medway event had to be postponed for several reasons, and during the summer, Mark asked if I would run a rescheduled event with his guidance and backing. We decided that we would not make significant changes, so I contacted Rebecca Nash at the Royal Engineers Museum to ask if they would still like to host and what availability they had. After that, it was a case of confirming with the original speakers that they were still available. As with these great ideas, it never turned out to be that simple, and as we got to the sixth draft of the itinerary, I was beginning to

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Fig 1: MHS exhibitors at the splendid surorundings of the Royal Engineers Museum

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Fig 2: Sheila Sweetinburgh and Jason Mazzocchi, CKHH and Lossenham Project

wonder if we would ever get there. I am incredibly grateful to colleagues inside and outside of KAS who stepped in at short notice to give talks, especially Elaine Gardner of the Friends of Medway Archives (FOMA), who offered to give an unscripted talk when a speaker tested positive for Covid on the day.

The talks ranged from the Roman period through to WW1. They covered subjects ranging from Walking from London to Dover in the Dickensian period to the building of the Navy Memorial in Chatham. The exhibitors were equally varied, from the Centre Kent History and Heritage (CKHH) and the Lossenham project to Kent Defence Research Group (KDRG), who brought their expertise and some serious archaeological finds. There were representatives from Medway and Kent Archives, and we were also joined by Mr Martin Stoneham, the chair of the Friends of the Royal Engineers Museum.

The day turned out to be as hoped and met the organising criteria.

Throughout the day, there was a steady buzz from the centre of the museum, where the exhibitors were set up, and the auditorium was packed for each of the talks. There was plenty of networking between the talks, and other projects and research opportunities have already begun to flourish (See article on Medieval Animals). The feedback was generally positive, and plans are underway to repeat the events next year with a theme of Industry.

If you would like to be involved in this excellent opportunity to showcase history or archaeology in 2023, or you wish to discuss how the Society can help your local history society, please email me at outreach@kentarchaeology.org.

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Fig 3: Colin Welch of KDRG exhibiting artefacts courtesy of the award-winning @craterlocators Top, right

Fig 4: JJ immersed in past issue of the Magazine

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Fig 5: Carolyn Oulton discussing www.kent-maps.online – a site that provides themed essays about Kent using interactive maps and images