ANNUAL
PROGRAMME 2024-25
There
is an entrance charge of £4 for each talk -
which are held in Bridge Village Hall starting at
7.30pm
September 19th
2024:
Churchill’s
secret army (the GHQ Home Forces Auxiliary Units)
– Jim Gascoyne
During the
early part of WW2, Churchill set up a network of discrete
teams of local volunteers trained to launch guerrilla
raids against an invasion force. Many of these units
were established in Kent, including the Bridge area.
Their existence remained a secret for many years.
Jim Gascoyne found out that his parents were volunteers
and he is involved with a research team dedicated
to finding out more about this little known aspect
of the war.
October 17th 2024:
Bruges - it’s more than just
Chocolate - Melanie Gibson-Barton
Melanie’s talk
will cover the culture, history and geography, together
with all the modern aspects of this attractive City.
For people who have visited Bruges before, this talk
will bring back memories and show that there is more
to see in this city, to inspire a return visit to
explore it again in depth.
November 21st 2024:
The Butcher, the Baker and the
Candlestick-Maker. Who lived In Canterbury In 1641?
- Prof. Jackie Eales
This talk explores
Canterbury society in the prelude and during the first
English Civil War, taking as its starting point the
1641 poll tax. We are introduced to certain gentlefolk
who resided in the city, members of the mayor and
corporation, clerical personnel from the Cathedral
and parish churches, as well as those who might have
seen themselves as members of the Middling sort.
December 19th 2024:
Kit, Kitty, Canterbury, Controversy and the Dracula
Connection - Ian Osterloh
By 1890 Canterbury
seemed to have forgotten Christopher (Kit) Marlowe.
So why was a statue (Kitty) erected in his memory
in 1891 and who were the characters involved? We follow
the story of Kit and the much travelled and maligned
Kitty from 1890 to today, and contrast Kitty with
other controversial sculptures.
January
16th 2025 -
Re-Awakening Dover’s Maison Dieu - Martin Crowther
The history
of the Maison Dieu covers 800 years—331 as a hospital
for pilgrims, 300 as a navy victualling yard and over
100 as a Town Hall, Victorian prison, and a popular
events venue. Martin will tell us how a £10.5 million
Heritage Lottery project is enabling a new life for
this historic and iconic building, which is undergoing
a conservation in action programme.
February 20th 2025:
The hazards of the Journey. Pilgrimage
and Travel In the Middle Ages - Imogen Corrigan
Imogen will
explain why people were willing to trudge for hundreds
of miles, often in appalling conditions and sometimes
perishing on the way. She will also cover the shift
from spiritual wanderings in the Anglo Saxon period
to religious tourism in the days of Chaucer’s pilgrims.
From maps and motivation to souvenirs and shrines,
this talk discusses travel in the round as well as
for spiritual reasons.
March
20th 2025:
Aphra
Behn - Charlotte Cornell
Charlotte
Cornell will tell the story of Aphra Behn, who was
born in Canterbury and who became a poet, the first
ever professional female writer, an anti-slavery novelist,
playwright and a spy! Aphra Behn came from a humble
family and through hard work and talent broke down
the social barriers for those generations of women
who came after her. She was a truly ground – breaking
figure.
April 17th
2025:
Richborough
- Paul Pattison
Paul
Pattison FSA is Senior Properties Historian at English
Heritage. He will talk about the recent project at
Richborough, including the excavation of the amphitheatre
site, the new museum and the simulation of a gateway
to the Claudian fortification, which now affords visitors
an excellent view of the Roman remains. Richborough
was the landing place for the Roman Army in AD 43,
beginning their invasion of Britain, and later developed
into a thriving port town adorned with a huge monumental
arch. All in all Richborough is one of the most significant
places of Roman Britain.
April 24th
2025:
Spring
Social
Details
will be sent to Society Subscribers
May
15th
2025:
Gardening
at Canterbury Cathedral - Thomas Goodall
Thomas
Goodall is the head gardener at Canterbury Cathedral
and will talk
about
the history of some of the Cathedral gardens, how
these spaces are influencing the current gardens,
their work around biodiversity and what it’s like
to be the head gardener at a site like Canterbury
Cathedral.
June
19th 2025:
Group
visit to Dover Maison Dieu - Guided by Martin
Crowther
Details
will be sent to Society Subscribers nearer the date.
Annual
General Meeting
The
first meeting of the year will be preceded by a short
Annual General Meeting.
This
will be an opportunity for you to have a say in what
you would like the Society to do for you.
The Society
Accounts are on the web site 'Publications'
at www.bridgehistory.org.uk
Membership
There
is no charge for Membership. Members join by subscribing
on the web site:-
www.bridgehistory.org.uk
Newsletters
with advance notice of the next events will be sent
out by email to all who subscribe.
Bridge
and District History Society
The
Society was formed in 1995 to promote interest in
aspects of local history in and around the villages
of Bridge, Barham, Bishopsbourne, Bekesbourne, Kingston
and Patrixbourne.
The
evening meetings are informal and sociable and include
refreshments. Transport and/or escorts can usually
be arranged with other members living nearby.
On
trips by member’s cars, those without transport can
usually be accommodated in spare seats.
Please
contact the organiser of each event for arrangements.
Please contact
any Society officer or committee member if you need
any help
Talks in the past
have included Jane Austen in Kent, Nelson in Kent,
Old Ramsgate, John Tom of Bossington Wood, The Star
Hill dig at Bridge, The City Gates of Canterbury.
Richborough Castle, The Domesday Book, The Romney
Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, The Green Man, Stained
glass windows in Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury’s
medieval hospitals, Bekesbourne Aerodrome, Soldiers
of the First World War, Victorian Herne Bay, Bourne
Park House, Higham House and Medieval Manuscripts.
This is a small selection
of the many talks we have enjoyed over the years.
As well as talks our visits have included Bourne Park
House, Denton Court, Provender, Cobham Hall, Dode
Church, Ypres, Lambeth Palace, Tenterden Railway again
a very small selection of the many visits. We also
arrange film evenings where we have shown films of
Bridge in the 1930s, films of Canterbury in the 1940s,
and a selection of old films of Kent.
Information
on the Society can be obtained by from the Secretary
- email:
[email protected]
PLEASE
DO NOT contact the Society for genealogical information:
Bridge History
Society does not hold any records regarding the family
histories of Bridge residents.
ALL
historical parish council records have been transferred
to the Kent County Archive in Maidstone and all church
records to the Cathedral archives.
NB:
From 1830, there was a workhouse in Union Road (now
The Close). The local registrar lived at 10 Union
Road and, in order to spare the embarrassment of relatives,
workhouse residents were often recorded as living
at that address.
