Our March meeting was given to us by Doug Lindsay on “Kent and East Sussex Railway – Then and Now” and he explained how this branch line had been created after the Light Railway Act of 1896, the area it served, and it’s history until it was closed in 1961. We learnt that re-opening a railway line after closure is very hard work, not only with the physical work in rebuilding buildings, engines and railway lines, but also having to deal with British Rail and all the other public authorities. It says much for the determination of railway enthusiasts that we have any heritage railways at all…

Our next talk, on Monday 14th May, will be given by Melanie Gibson-Barton on “In Flanders Field”, talking about some of the less well known World War One sites.

Our 2018 schedule:
9th July – 1917 – Bombs on Kent – Alex Ferris
10th September – Development of South Darenth before 1900 – Malcolm Scott
12th November – AGM & Short Talk followed by Wine & Cheese
Our 2019 schedule:
14th January –  Woolwich Women at War – Steve Hookins
11th March – The Romance of London’s River – Tony Farnham
20th May – The Kaiser’s War – Christoph Bull
8th July – Lost Empires – the last days of Music Hall and Variety – Wilf Lower
9th September – To be confirmed but will be a talk by one of our members
11th November – AGM & Short Talk followed by Wine & Cheese
Please note that next year’s May meeting will be a week later than normal.

As was mentioned during our last meeting, new data privacy laws come into effect on 25th May 2018. You will find a GDPR Consent Form with this newsletter, and we would ask that you return this form to us as soon as possible as the Society needs your consent to process your data. If you have any questions about this form, please do contact our Chairman or myself.

Forthcoming Local Events:
Friday 11th May at 7.30pm – Quiz Night at Sutton Court, Sutton at Hone in aid of  St John the Baptist Church
Saturday 23rd June at 2.00pm – St Mary’s Church Fete at Court Lodge, Horton Kirby

Our January meeting was another fascinating talk by Christoph Bull, on “Gravesend – Gateway to the Thames” and we were shown lots of slides of Gravesend, including many places that have been demolished in the past 50 years as part of the town’s ‘modernisation’. Buildings that were condemned would these days be restored rather than demolished, and their replacements in some cases are now being considered for demolition…

Our next talk, on Monday 12th March, at 8pm in the Jubilee Hall, Horton Kirby Village Hall, will be given by Doug Lindsay on “Kent and East Sussex Railway – Then and Now”, and many of you may have visited the railway already.

Our 2018 schedule:
14th May                          In Flanders Fields – Melanie Gibson-Barton
9th July 1917                    Bombs on Kent – Alex Ferris
10th September              Development of South Darenth before 1900 – Malcolm Scott
12th November               AGM & Short Talk followed by Wine & Cheese

Terry was very busy in January and our 2019 schedule is virtually complete, and the list will be on our next newsletter.

The society has received a generous grant from the Parish Council towards the cost of publishing our book on the war memorial and the villages during the First World War, which we are planning to publish in the autumn.

Please note that there are two more “Talks at St Mary’s” in the next few weeks, and Stephen de Winton is giving a talk on “Churchill : Journalist, Author (Statesman)”.

We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting,

The formalities of our AGM were completed in under ten minutes (as intended), and then Malcolm Scott gave us a short overview of the records held at Queen’s College, Oxford which relate to Horton Kirby. The College was a major landowner in the parish until the inter war period, and they hold records such as court rolls from the eighteenth century. The evening was ended with our Cheese & Wine party, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Doreen Jack and Paddy Eaton for all their help with the preparations.

Our next talk, on Monday 8th January, will be given by Christoph Bull (who recently featured in a BBC website story) on Gravesend- Gateway to the Thames, and Christoph’s talks are always very interesting.

Our 2018 schedule:
12th March                 Kent and East Sussex Railway – Then and Now – Doug Lindsay
14th May                     In Flanders Fields – Melanie Gibson-Barton
9th July                        1917 – Bombs on Kent – Alex Ferris
10th September        Development of South Darenth before 1900 – Malcolm Scott
12th November         AGM & Short Talk followed by Wine & Cheese

At the end of November, our founder Secretary Keith Saunderson sadly passed away after a short illness. Keith was a founder member of the society and as Secretary he booked all our speakers and wrote the newsletter (although it was typed by his wife Christine). Keith and Christine also worked on many of our early publications and other society products, and made a huge contribution to the running of the Society for many years. Terry Moyle and I represented the Society at his funeral just before Christmas.

Our September meeting was a talk by Anne Carter on the life of Queen Victoria, covering the background to Queen Victoria’s existence (the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in childbirth meant that there was a lack of legitimate heirs), her rather unusual upbringing and what she was really like as Queen. The talk helped to give a more rounded view than is possible in a TV historical drama.

Our next meeting will be our AGM (which never lasts more than 10 minutes), followed by our colleague Malcolm Scott showing us some of the documents that Queen’s College, Oxford has in its archive about Horton Kirby (the College used to own much of the village). This will be followed by the Cheese & Wine evening.

Our 2018 schedule:
8th January        Gravesend- Gateway to the Thames – Christoph Bull
12th March        Kent and East Sussex Railway – Then and Now – Doug Lindsay
14th May            In Flanders Fields – Melanie Gibson-Barton
9th July               1917 – Bombs on Kent – Alex Ferris
10th Sept           Development of South Darenth before 1900 – Malcolm Scott
12th Nov            AGM & Short Talk followed by Wine & Cheese

A reminder to our members who were not at the last meeting, our new publication “A Walking Tour of South Darenth & Horton Kirby” is now available, and costs £1. This booklet will make an ideal stocking filler for friends and family (and it will be much cheaper to post than a calendar). Copies are available in the parish office, and other local stockists, and you will see posters around the village very soon.

For our July meeting, our Chairman Terry Moyle showed us several hundred images of Horton Kirby, Sutton at Hone and the surrounding area in his “Old Dartford & District” talk.  Whilst Terry gave us information on the background to the slides such as where it had come from and where it was (not all images were labelled), our members helped to fill in any gaps and provided lots of additional information, making it a lively evening for all.

Our next meeting will be on Monday 11^th September at 8pm in the Horton Kirby Jubilee Hall (next to the Village Hall) and Anne Carter will be giving us a talk on Queen Victoria, which will be topical as the 2^nd series of the ITV drama “Victoria” has just started.

Our 2017-2018 schedule:

13^th November                    AGM a short talk by Malcolm Scott and the Cheese & Wine Evening

8^th January                             Gravesend- Gateway to the Thames – Christoph Bull

12^th March                             Kent and East Sussex Railway – Then and Now – Doug Lindsay

The Heritage Open Days weekend takes place 7^th (Thursday) to 10^th (Sunday) September, and there are lots of Kent events (go to www.heritageopendays.org.uk for more details) that you may be interested in, and if you are not a National Trust member, you can visit many local properties for free over this weekend.  On 16^th and 17^th September the London Open House weekend takes place, which includes all London boroughs, as well as Central London, so you can visit Erith Lighthouse (!) or the Priory at Orpington, or go to London to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office or the Derry and Toms Roof Garden, for example.

Hextable – Beating the Bounds 2017 – Saturday 9^th September

Beating The Bounds walk starting at 10.00 – walk the entire boundary of the village with an expert guide.

Explore the Heritage Society’s archive of artefacts, photographs and documents concerning the Swanley Horticultural College, Swanley Working Men’s Club and the village in general.  Saturday 9 September: 10.00 – 16.00,  Heritage Centre, College Road, Hextable, Swanley, Kent, BR8 7LT

Pre-booking: Preferred – Booking Contact: Mrs Sharon Mitchell 01322 616424 or email: sharon_mitchell@hotmail.com

Eynsford Shops Exhibition

On Saturday 9^th September at the The Castle Hotel, Eynsford, High Street from 11 am until 4pm. Display of photos and memorabilia related to shops in Eynsford over the years

In our May meeting Christoph Bull told us about the parish of Stone, its history and how it has changed in recent years, particularly in size.  Did you know that Bean is the newest parish in Kent, as it was detached from Stone in the 1980s.  Stone has also lost other areas to Dartford, particularly along the Thames, but it is also home to Bluewater, which is now the UK’s 4^th largest shopping centre.

Our next meeting will be on Monday 10^th July at 8pm in the Horton Kirby Jubilee Hall (next to the Village Hall) and our Chairman Terry Moyle will be giving us a slide show entitled “Old Dartford & District” with a large number of images to show us.

Our 2017-2018 schedule:

11^th September       Queen Victoria – Anne Carter

13^th November        AGM a short talk by Malcolm Scott and the Cheese & Wine Evening

8^th January             Gravesend- Gateway to the Thames – Christoph Bull

12^th March              Kent and East Sussex Railway – Then and Now – Doug Lindsay

The full list of 2018 speakers will be announced in our next newsletter.

The new walking tour guide is very close to being ready, and we should have an update in our meeting next month.  One of our publications, “Sink the Link” is being used as a reference work for a talk at the Swanley History Group in August.  The recent proposed redevelopment plans for Swanley reminded members of their earlier protesting activities when the Channel Tunnel Rail Link route was announced and this talk will feature a lot of video footage taken at the Swanley protests and other local events.

We look forward to seeing you next month at our meeting,

Our March talk was by Steve Hookins, who has given us talks in the past, this time it was “To Wilhelm with Love – Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Somme”. Steve’s talks are always thought provoking, as he gave us a rounded view of the battle, which lasted several weeks, accompanied by a very well illustrated slide presentation. Steve also brought to the meeting a display of WW1 items which we all had time to look at before and after the meeting, and answered many questions.

Our next meeting will be on Monday 8th May 2017 at 8pm in the Horton Kirby Jubilee Hall (next to the Village Hall) and our speaker will be Christoph Bull, and this time his talk will be “The Incredible Shrinking Parish of Stone”.

Our 2017 schedule:
10th July                     Old Dartford & District – Terry Moyle
11th September       Queen Victoria – Anne Carter
13th November        AGM a short talk by Malcolm Scott and the Cheese & Wine Evening

The new walking tour guide to Horton Kirby and South Darenth is not quite ready yet (there have been significant issues with maps…) and the guide will be available soon. Work is also progressing on the history of the villages during World War One, and I am currently reading the bound volumes of The Dartford Express for 1914, 1915 and 1916, lent to me by a very kind member of the Dartford Historical & Antiquarian Society, and this is providing interesting additional information about the activities in the villages during this period which we will be using in the book.

Forthcoming local events:

British Legion Plant Sale – Saturday, 6th May 10.30am – 1pm.
At the British Legion Hall, Devon Road, with cakes, tea and coffee available

British Legion Quiz Night – Friday, 12th May 7.00pm for 7.30pm.
At the British Legion Hall, Devon Road, bring your own drinks and nibbles

Sutton at Hone Church Quiz Night – Friday, 19th May 7.30pm.
At Sutton Court (off Church Road), £4 per person and teams of up to six.