The Society holds monthly meetings at three branches, usually with a talk from a guest speaker. All meetings are open to all members, details are given below. If you miss a meeting you may like to hire a tape of the talk from our Tape Library.
Bromley Branch
Bromley Branch meetings are now held on the third Saturday morning of the month, in the main hall, Bromley Methodist Church, College Road, Bromley BR1 3NS (on the corner of North St., small red block on map). There is free parking at the church, access is from College Rd. and from North St. The hall opens at 9.45am, the meeting proper is due to start at 10.30am.
The move to a Saturday morning has been well received with numbers increasing each month. If you have not yet found us, do come along and see for yourself. Guests are also very welcome.
Branch Chair - Angela Verrells, Meetings Organizer -
(click to send an email).
The Bromley programme for 2012-13 is as follows:
Date
Speaker
Title
2012 21 Jan
Imogen Corrigan
A child’s life in the Middle Ages
18 Feb
Mary Teviot
London Family History resources
17 Mar
Pat Mortlock
The 1851 census - portrait of a market town & Annual Meeting
21 Apr
Helen Allinson
Life in the Victorian Kentish Workhouse
19 May
Else Churchill
Researching before 1700 using alternative resources
16 Jun
Dr Ann Kneif
The Glass Industry in the Weald
21 Jul
Dr Jonathan Oates
London Ancestry
18 Aug
Kathy Chater
Turning your tree into a tale - Writing up your family history
Meetings are held on the first Saturday of the month, at our new venue Dartford Technology College. This is on the north side of Heath Lane, close to the small roundabout which intersects with Highfield Road. There is plenty of parking at the new site. The meetings room is the New Auditorium. This should be open from 9.45am with the meeting proper starting at 10.30am.
Branch Chair - Janet Rose (Tel: 01322-384836), Meetings Organizer - Barbara Phillips. The branch newsletter Dartboard edited by Paul Wilkins is normally available at the meeting.
The Dartford programme for 2012-13 is as follows:
Date
Speaker
Title
2012 7 Jan *
Stephen Humphrey
The Old Industrial Heart of London's Historic Borough - Southwark
4 Feb **
Alan Payne
An insight into the History of the Playing Card
3 Mar
Norman Hopkins
The Huguenots in Kent (with a brief reference to links with London)
7 Apr
Meryl Catty & Audrey Gillett
An Enumerator's Tale & Annual Meeting
5 May
Pauline Watson
Greenwich Heritage Centre and its resources
2 Jun
Denise Baldwin & Kathy Harding
The life of Douglas MacMillan: Everyone has heard of MacMillan Cancer Support & nurses but the life of the humble man who lived in Sidcup for 40 years is scarce known
7 Jul
Tim Cox
The history of how the seaside holiday developed or "I do like to be beside the seaside"
4 Aug
Mari Alderman
Illegitimacy
1 Sep
Jane King
Coram's Children: the Story of the Foundling Hospital
6 Oct
Peter Christian
Genealogy & the Internet
3 Nov
Christoph Bull
An armchair walk of Swanscombe
1 Dec
Dr Colin Chapman
Christmases Past: Some Festive Customs and Traditions
2013 12 Jan
Peter Hartley
"Of Princes and Palaces": The residences of Sovereigns from Queen Victoria to the present and the pattern of their year moving around those homes.
2 Feb
Rod LeGear
Chislehurst Caves - A History
2 Mar
Judith Kinnison-Bourke
"Dorothy in the Workhouse" [in costume]
* Change of speaker; ** Change of speaker & topic
Click here for photos of the Dartford branch venue.
Sevenoaks Branch
Meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month at Sevenoaks Community Centre, Otford Road (at junction with Crampton Rd.), Sevenoaks, at 7.15pm. In addition to the talks, there is a bookstall, continuing projects and all the helpful advice that you might need. We welcome new members, so please come along.
Branch Chair - Barbara Attwaters, Meetings Organizer - Chris Barnett.
The Sevenoaks programme for 2012-13 is as follows:
Date
Speaker
Title
2012 Jan
No Meeting
9 Feb
Monty Parkin
Kemsing - A Village Remembered
8 Mar
Ian Currie
Frost Fairs
12 Apr
Jean Stirk & David Williams
"Ightham at the Cross Roads" & Annual Meeting
10 May
Dr Ron Cox
It’s where you sleep that counts
14 Jun
Scott Belcher
Chatham Dockyard
12 Jul
Lee Ault
"All the Rage"
Aug
No Meeting
13 Sep
Helen Allinson
Farewell to Kent - Assisted Emigration
11 Oct
Dr Colin Chapman
Your Ancestors - Population & Birth Control
8 Nov
Mrs Sheila Boyd
Georgian Times
13 Dec
Bob Ogley
In the Wake of the Hurricane
2013 Jan
No Meeting
14 Feb
Clare Graham
Jane Austen - Her connections with Kent
10 Mar
Dave Annal
Brick Walls & Lost Ancestors
Click here for a photo of the Sevenoaks branch venue.
Computer Branch
The Society held Computer Branch meetings at Orpington from 2000 to 2006, but at the Society AGM in April 2006 it was announced that these would be discontinued owing to difficulties in recruiting members to the Branch committee. Since then, members of the old Computer Branch have spoken at other meetings of the Society.
