Isle of Thanet History

Isle of Thanet Geographical Association 60th Anniversary Edition Thanet Panorama The first Six Decades Contents Editorial 3 Introduction and Background 4 First Decade 1956-1966 6 Second Decade 1966-1976 14 Third Decade 1976-1986 16 Fourth Decade 1986-1996 18 Fifth Decade 1996-2006 19 Sixth Decade 2006-2016 21 Committees 1956-2016 24 Appendix A Photographs 28 Appendix B Firms closed since 1956-1966 36 Addendum Statistical Analysis 45 Acknowledgements 49 2 Editorial It is precisely sixty years since the formation of the Isle of Thanet Branch of the Geographical Association. At the time of writing this history of the Isle of Thanet Geographical Association, the Branch had an ageing membership and it was believed that now was the time to produce such a dissertation on the Branch activities throughout the six decades of its existence. Derek Wilson, as secretary of the Branch, was the custodian of the Branch Archives and compiled all the information for this history which was derived from the available committee meeting minutes, membership cards and leaflets and flyers advertising the lecture meetings throughout the 6 decades; also, further information was obtained from members’ diaries and through verbal communication and newspaper clippings. Although there was some information missing in the archives, this is, nevertheless, a comprehensive history of the Branch. Derek Wilson, FTSC, BSc, LRSC Hon Secretary, Isle of Thanet Geographical Association May 2016 3 Introduction and Background The Royal Geographical Society of London was founded in 1830 as an institution to promote the advancement of geographical science. Like many learned societies at the time in pursuit of knowledge, it started as a dining club in London, where select members held informal dinner debates on current scientific issues and ideas. In the early 1890s there was a growing opposition to the RGS as they did not allow women members and objected to the use and exchange of lantern slides, a leading technology of the day (Photo 1 in Appendix A); enthusiasm in some public schools (particularly by Bentham Dickinson of the Rugby School), led to the setting up of the Geographical Association (GA). On 20th May 1893, the Geographical Association (GA) was founded at a meeting in the New Common Room, Christ Church, Oxford, led by Sir Halford Mackinder, Douglas Freshfield, who up until then was the Honorary Secretary of the RGS and ten others (mainly Masters from public schools). In the early 1900s, membership of the Geographical Association flourished and expanded with the opening of several local branches. By 1959, the number of branches in the United Kingdom had risen to 59, although since then the number has declined to the 35 branches today. In late 1955, Alice Coleman, of King’s College London came to the now defunct Medway Towns branch of the Geographical Association to speak about the then unexplored aspects of the Moon. Marjorie Woodward at the time was the Secretary of the branch. Both had been educated at Clarendon House Grammar School (Photo 2 in Appendix A) for Girls and both Marjorie and Alice had their roots in the Isle of Thanet. After a geographical discussion, each promised one another that if ever either of them should return to live there, they would form a branch of the Geographical Association. After the meeting of these 2 ladies, the birth of the Isle of Thanet Geographical Association was quite sudden. A pilot committee was set up in November 1955 where it was decided that the new GA Branch would be open to all who were interested in the post-war developing world. Students would be particularly welcome and take part in the increasingly popular fieldwork with excursions to a wider area and that a magazine would be published. 4 After many meetings of the committee consisting of Alice Coleman and Marjorie Woodward, George Wooster and Ken Girkin of Chatham House Grammar School, Peggy Hopkins of Clarendon House Grammar School, Ken Maggs, then in the Army, and Alan Kay of Margate, the first meeting of the Branch took place at Charles Dickens School in Broadstairs on 30th January 1956. A classroom had been booked but so many people arrived at the meeting that chairs had to be hastily removed to the Assembly Hall for the meeting to convene. Friends were quickly co-opted as committee members to help with the collection of the subscriptions; 80 signed on as members on that first night. Despite the inclement snowy weather, a triumphant Committee celebrated next day at the “Little Vienna” café on Broadstairs Jetty. By the end of June 1956, the membership had grown to 145; at least 8 of the members became full members of the national Geographical Association. In the second year, the membership grew from 145 to 200, and of these 140 were adults whilst the rest were junior members; a feature of that year’s membership was that 2 came from Deal, 2 from Sandwich and 5 from the Medway towns. 5 First Decade 1956 to 1966 One of the first tasks of the newly created committee was to draw up a Constitution for the recently established Isle of Thanet Geographical Association. It was agreed that the aims of the Association should be: (a) To stimulate a lively interest in Geography with a special reference to Thanet and East Kent. (b) To encourage Research and Investigations. (c) To produce an annual magazine under the name “PANORAMA”. (d) To further the knowledge of Geography and the teaching of Geography in all categories of educational institutions. The membership shall be open to everyone who is interested in Geography. The committee will consist of 8 members, to be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. The branch officers shall comprise a Chairman, a Secretary, a Treasurer, an Excursions Secretary, an Editor, a Display Organiser plus 2 further IOTGA members. The lecture meetings shall be held monthly in alternate Thanet towns with the Annual General Meeting being held in June. The committee then planned the first lecture programme, field trips or expeditions as they were called at the time, local research challenges and a short holiday. Tradition demands the printed word; this was one of the principal aims of ‘Panorama’, where the activities of the Association would be recorded, particularly the results of the research projects. During the first season, there were 5 lectures: “Italy” presented by Dr MJ Wise, Reader in Geography at the London School of Economics, “The Evolution of Thanet” by Alan Kay, “Norway” by Alice Coleman, “USA” by Mr D Pitt and “A Travelogue in Switzerland” by Ken Girkin. The attendance at these lectures was good. A feature of these first meetings was an exhibition of large-scale maps and pictures of general interest. 6 Again during the first season, there were 3 field trips one to Upchurch Pottery, one to the Kent Farm Institute in Sittingbourne and another to Chatham Dockyard. The first outing of the IOTGA was on 2nd May 1956 to Upchurch Pottery. It was a pottery business established in 1909 in Upchurch, Kent, by the Wakely brothers. Most of the clay used in production was taken from what is now called Springbank Farm in Poot Lane Upchurch. There were many finished articles that were beautifully glazed and coloured. The Kent Farm Institute was founded when land was purchased in 1919 at Grove End Farm, Tunstall, near Sittingbourne. In 1929, the Farm Institute occupied the nearby Borden Grammar School. Subsequently, in 1958, the Farm Institute merged with the Kent Horticultural Institute to form the Kent and Horticultural Institute. Following acquisition of property in Hadlow, the merger was renamed in 1967 as the Hadlow College of Agriculture and Horticulture (Photo 3 in Appendix A). Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional defences. For 414 years Chatham Dockyard provided over 500 ships for the Royal Navy, and was forefront of shipbuilding, industrial and architectural technology. At its height, it employed over 10,000 skilled craftsmen and covered 400 acres. Chatham dockyard (Photo 4 in Appendix A) subsequently closed in 1984, and the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust now manages 84 acres of the Georgian dockyard as a visitor attraction. Thanet is rich in history and geography. There is much to discover and ample scope for original research into new topics. Three of these topics were enthusiastically pursued by members of the Isle of Thanet Geographical Association in the first 6 months of its existence. In Pegwell Bay (Photo 5 in Appendix A), there was a tremendous growth of Spartina grass. This spread of Spartina was the IOTGA team’s first research project. On 12th March 1956, a research party, led by Alice Coleman, set out to survey the extent of the Spartina grass. The group were first shown how to use a prismatic compass; then 3 stations, marked with survey poles, were set up on top of the cliffs. Bearings were taken from these 3 stations to 13 poles stuck in the mud at the edge of the Spartina grass (Photo 6 in Appendix A) and entered on to a piece of specially prepared paper. After plotting the positions obtained, a line was drawn through the seaward edge of the 7 Spartina grass for March 1956. This showed that a band 600ft in width is in the process of being won from the sea. The finding was retained so that the future researchers could compare the position of the line in several years to come. The second project was to locate and examine the caves around the Thanet coast.

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