Message from the Chair of the Board of Trustees

[pg4][fg]Kerry Brown.[/fg]In late 2022, the KAS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Maidstone Museum. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first written agreement between us despite being associated with the museum since the middle of the 19th century!

It was a welcome development. The agreement clarified our expectations towards each other, which is significant given the importance of the library and the 3500-plus artefacts that belong to the KAS.

There is little point in signing an agreement if nothing then happens. So, it has been heartening to see 2023 become a year when we made something more of our relationship. The museum and the KAS have one major interest in common – serving public benefit. So, there is a natural harmony helping us in our work together. In May, we put on a small exhibition of our most recent and significant finds at the museum. The highlight was the redisplay of the gold Bronze Age torques, bracelets and fastener, which were inaccessible for some years. We also put out some of the acquisitions in the Ozengell Collection we purchased in October 2022. Our former curator, Elizabeth Blanning and our newly appointed one, Andy Ward, did sterling work on this. We have had the opportunity to showcase our work with more visibility for six months.

Maidstone Museum has been reassessing how it presents history and what sort of narrative it wishes to provide for the interface between local, county and national stories. One of the issues over the years has been that while a facility funded by the local town council, Maidstone Museum has had to balance the ways it serves its local community along with how it puts this in a broader context. Of course, the two intimately relate to each other. Maidstone’s history as a town and borough makes little sense if seen in isolation. The aim is to achieve balance, where the local and the broader context are set beside each other and can help explain things better.

The next archaeological gallery at the museum, which it is hoped will open in the coming year or so, is a major venture that the KAS has been involved with since its inception. We are grateful for this opportunity, and the plans that have now largely been finalised allow generous scope for using some of our artefacts.

We are also glad that our curator, Andy Ward and other colleagues have been working with the staff at the museum to articulate and refine the exhibition plans. I was pleased to be shown a preview of these in October, and I could appreciate the amount of work and the commitment that has gone into them.

This will be a major initiative allowing greater engagement with the public, and an excellent example of how the KAS and the museum can co-operate and help each other. It is also great that so soon after the signing of the MOU, we are now able to have a chance like this to make our relationship meaningful and operational rather than just passive and aspirational.

The KAS has entered a period of increased activity. The project described above is one illustration of that. We have engaged in digs at Leas Court and Trottiscliffe in the last year, allowing interaction with a broader public. We participated in the Faversham open day and held several public lectures and research days. We have moved ahead with updating and improving our website, 3D modelling of some of our digs, and digitising some of our holdings. A new editor, Jason Mazzocchi, has been appointed for the Archaeologia Cantiana after the long and distinguished service of the previous editor, Terry Lawson. In January 2024, after a period of remarkable service to the KAS, the current General Manager, Clive Drew, passes the batten to Richard Taylor. Both have been working hard to update and make the KAS more functional in delivering its public benefit. We have also seen a healthy maintenance of membership, standing now at about 1200.

The next year’s priority will be to raise funds to continue our work. The help of members in this will be critical. While our current financial position remains strong, we have had to make several significant investments in the last year. As a charity, we cannot stay still but must forever be dynamic and forward-looking. We must now start to build different revenue streams and sources of support for our projects to support endeavours like our work with Maidstone Museum.

With best wishes for 2024, and thanks for your support and engagement,

Best wishes,
Kerry Brown
Chair, Board of Trustees