AGM 1983

[pg2]The Annual General Meeting was held at Sevenoaks, on the morning of Saturday 21st May. Council's Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for 1982 were approved (with one dissentient), the feeling of the meeting being that they indicated a very healthy level of activities in the various branches of the Society.

Officers

All the retiring Officers were re-elected, the Hon. General Secretary (502 votes to 147) and the Hon. Librarian (493 votes to 155) after a ballot had been taken.

Vice-Presidents

The existing Vice-Presidents were re-elected and, in addition, Mr Robin Leigh-Pemberton, J.P., M.A., Lord Lieutenant of the County, and the Rt. Hon. Lord Northbourne were elected Vice-Presidents as persons of distinction associated with the County.

Council

After a ballot, Mr E.W. Parkin (494 votes) and Mrs P. Winzar (480 votes) were re-elected. The other four places were filled by Mr P. Bennett (374 votes); Mrs N. Caiger (476 votes); Mr J. Cruse (456 votes) and Mr R.F. LeGear (449 votes). In addition, Mr S.R. Harker (252 votes) was elected for one year to fill the casual vacancy. Mr R.J. Ansell (175 votes); Mr B.J. Philp (235 votes) and Mrs V. Smith (152 votes) were not elected.

Rules

As a result of the painstaking and skilful work of the Rules Committee under the chairmanship of Sir John Winnifrith, K.C.B., a revised and re-arranged set of Rules was presented and passed without amendment. The Committee was reappointed to consider what other amendments, if any, were desirable.

Afternoon Lecture

In the afternoon, members heard a most interesting and entertaining talk by Dr Peter Reynolds, Director of the Butser Ancient Farm Project Trust. In the talk, which was expertly illustrated with colour slides, he told us about the objectives of the Trust. Dr Reynolds explained in some detail his experiments with regards to the construction of Iron Age Houses and the excavation and silting up of enclosure ditches. He also spoke about his experiments with the keeping of animals and the growing and storage of crops, which have been designed to increase our knowledge and our understanding of the agricultural economy of Britain at the end of the Iron Age. Our thanks go to Dr Reynolds for such an enjoyable and informative afternoon.

The various displays of work were greatly appreciated with much interest shown throughout the day. Many thanks for all their hard work to the following: Dartford and District Archaeological Group, Gravesend Historical Society, Orpington & District Archaeological Society, Otford & District Archaeological Group, Sevenoaks Architectural Survey and the K.A.S. Underground Research Group. The K.A.S. Bookstall was equally well patronised with members searching through the stocks of Arch.Cants. clutching lists of back numbers that they required. Our thanks go also to the young ladies of Sevenoaks Girls School who kept everybody supplied with very welcome cups of tea and coffee.

I should also like to take this opportunity to thank Cliff Ward for all his hard work in organising such a successful day.

Arthur Harrison
Hon. General Secretary

The next Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 19th May 1984 in Ashford.