North West Kent FHS Annual General Meeting

Notice is hereby given that the 48th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the NORTH WEST KENT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY

will be held at  DARTFORD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE, Heath Lane, Dartford, Kent  DA1 2LY

ON SATURDAY 4TH JULY 2026 at 10:30

Online and postal voting will be available for those members who are unable to attend in person.

Society Committee Nominations

Society Committee member nominations must be proposed and seconded by members of the Society and formally agreed by the nominee.

Nomination forms can be obtained from the Library, the Dartford Branch meetings, the Sevenoaks Branch meetings or by using the Contact Us form on the Society website.

Nominations are to be sent to the Society Secretary, to be received no later than Sunday 29th March 2026.

Our speakers for the day are: 

Morning Speaker after the AGM:  Kathy Chater on Film & Sound Archives for Family Historians

Kathy has been researching her family history for over 40 years. She worked as a researcher at the BBC and still advises on historical sources. She has published several books and also contributes articles and reviews on social and family history to periodicals including Ancestor published by The National Archives.

Recorded moving images have been around since the 1890's and recorded sound a little longer. Radio arrived in the 1920's and television in the 1930's.  Literally millions of people, some professional performers but mostly ordinary folk, have been preserved in film and sound archives. Kathy will explain how to discover if your ancestors, walking, talking or acting, are in them.

Afternoon Speaker:  David Annal on Understanding Death Duty Registers

Our second speaker of the day is the well known David Annal, an experienced lecturer and author who has been involved in family history for over 40 years and was the principal family history specialist at The National Archives. He is a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists and now runs his own research business and has a YouTube channel.

From 1796 to 1903 the Inland Revenue maintained a series of registers recording the payments of death duties. These registers, held by The National Archives, represent one of family history's best kept secrets. David will look at the surviving records in detail and explain how they can be used to uncover some fascinating facts about the lives and relationships of our nineteenth century ancestors.