KAS Sesquicentennial Dinner

In Volume I of Archaeologia Cantiana, there is an account of the first Annual Meeting of the Society, held in Canterbury on 30th July 1858. After the account of the meeting itself, it is recorded that:

‘At half past four the Dinner took place in the Music Hall, St Margaret’s; three hundred and ten were accommodated at the tables; above one hundred were disappointed of seats, owing to their not having given timely notice of their intentions to dine’.

(It is not made clear whether the ‘above one hundred’ did not dine at all or whether they had to eat standing!).

Well, on September 15th 2007, we will be returning to Canterbury to celebrate our 150th Anniversary. With thanks to the master, we will dine at Darwin College on the Campus of the University of Kent. This time, there will only be space to ‘accommodate at the tables’ a maximum of 150. So, if you wish to avoid being ‘disappointed of a seat’, please return the form enclosed with this Newsletter with your cheque (payable to KAS) to the President as soon as possible. Places will be allocated strictly on a first to arrive in the post, first served, basis.

For your money you will get drinks at a pre-dinner reception, a three course meal, coffee, mints etc and drinks with the meal. The drinks with the meal will include wines from various Kent vineyards. These are being donated by a member of the Society. At the conclusion of the meal, the first ‘Hasted Prize’ will be presented (by the biographer of Hasted, Shirley Burgoyne Black).

Since the Dinner will follow the One Day Conference, it will be jacket and tie, rather than black tie.