Dartford Branch Meetings

Doors open 9.45am. The meeting and talk will start at 10.30am and end by 12.30pm.

Christoph is a local guide and speaker who has entertained us many times with his light-hearted but informative talks on North West Kent.

This is one of two new talks about the villages surrounding Dartford. Hopefully it will inspire you to explore the "Delights" of the Darent Valley this summer.

There is a large, free car park but it is shared with other users and can be busy at times.

No booking, just turn up.

The Society is a registered charity and membership fees and donations are an important part of our income. The Talk is free to members but guests and visitors are asked to make a donation towards hall hire and speaker's fee. There will be a donations box at the venue.

Doors open 9.45am. The meeting / talk will start at 10.30am and end by 12.30pm.

One-place studies are a blend of family history and local history, with a focus on the entire population of a single road, village or community, not just a single, geographically dispersed family line.

Such studies are frequently undertaken by family historians wanting to create a context for their ancestors.

Gill is a professional genealogist and AGRA member. She will be giving us the benefit of her experience on how to use genealogical and other sources to create a One-Place Study and how this can inform our family history research.

There is a large, free car park but it is shared with other users and can be busy at times.

No booking, just turn up.

The Society is a registered charity and membership fees and donations are an important part of our income. The Talk is free to members but guests and visitors are asked to make a donation towards hall hire and speaker's fee. There will be a donations box at the venue.

Doors open 9.45am. The meeting / talk will start at 10.30am and end by 12.30pm.

Glen Jones leads the Kent Branch of the Orders and Medals Research Society (OMRS).  https://www.omrs.org/branches/kent

OMRS exists to promote a general interest in the study of orders, decorations and medals and to actively encourage and publish research into all aspects of civil and military medals, with a particular focus on those issued by Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries.

Glen's talk covers medals issued for gallantry, campaigns, long service, jubilee and coronation and will include interesting historical facts and stories.

He will offer some advice on research and also Dos and Don'ts regarding those family medals which you may be lucky enough to possess.

There is a large, free car park but it is shared with other users and can be busy at times.

No booking, just turn up.

The Society is a registered charity and membership fees and donations are an important part of our income. The Talk is free to members but guests and visitors are asked to make a donation towards hall hire and speaker's fee. There will be a donations box at the venue.

Doors open 9.45am.  Meeting and Talk start 10.30am.  Meeting will finish by 12.30pm

The meeting will start promptly with the Dartford Branch Annual Meeting at 10.30am so members are requested to arrive in good time.

David Gillham will tell us the story of the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight in 1919 in a Vickers Vimy designed and built in Crayford.

In 1913, Lord Northcliffe, owner of The Daily Mail, offered £10,000 to the first pilot who flew fly non-stop across the Atlantic taking no longer than 72 hours.

Due to the disruption of the First World War, the first attempt was not made until April 1919 by the Short brothers; their Shamrock plane flew only 12 miles before crashing into the sea. In May 1919, the second attempt was made by Hawker and Grieve. They had to be rescued by a ship in the Atlantic. Just one hour behind was the Martinsyde Raymor but it crashed on take-off. The Berlin Bomber and the Vickers Vimy were the final two contenders left to embark on the challenge. After mechanical difficulties concerning the Bomber, Alcock and Brown’s Vimy was the only remaining aircraft to take on the feat.

John Alcock was born in 1892 in Manchester, England. He first became interested in flying at the age of 17. He gained his pilot’s license in November 1912. He was a regular competitor in aircraft competitions. During the First World War he served as an RAF pilot.

Arthur Whitten Brown was born in 1886 in Glasgow, Scotland. He began his career as an engineer before the outbreak of the First World War when he joined the army then the Royal Flying Corps as an observer, later training to become a navigator.

Both men were captured during the First World War, Alcock while he was in Turkey and Brown while in France by the Germans.

After the war Alcock wanted to continue his flying career and took up the challenge of attempting to be the first person to fly directly across the Atlantic. Alcock and Brown first met by chance at the Vickers Weybridge/Brooklands site, when the attempt was being discussed. Alcock was impressed when he first met Brown, whose ability as a navigator far exceeded his own. Brown was assigned to the attempt alongside Alcock.

(The speaker originally planned for today, Nicola White on Mudlarking, has had to cancel).

There is a large, free car park but it is shared with other users and can be busy at times.

No booking, just turn up.

The Society is a registered charity and membership fees and donations are an important part of our income. The Talk is free to members but guests and visitors are asked to make a donation towards hall hire and speaker's fee. There will be a donations box at the venue.