## **SHAL Chair’s report  2021 -2022** 

## **Meetings in 2021** 

After some cancellations in 2020 due to COVID we were delighted to get back to regular meetings albeit on Zoom until June when we ventured out for a tour of Sandwich keeping in line with the latest Covid regulations. 

Zoom meetings covered the history of Cheriton, Rochester Cathedral and Lyminge Church. 

The  AGM was also run on Zoom.  Rosemary Stutchbury  took over as Chair and we all thanked Fiona the retiring Chair for her excellent leadership and enthusiasm over the past 5 years. The existing Committee members were confirmed in their posts. The rest of the meeting was enlivened by an account of proverbs and sayings from two of our members. 

In July we were able to join Rob Baldwin in Lyminge to actually see the features he had described on the Zoom presentation. 

We went to Folkestone for a tour of the seaside in August, and returned to the Village Hall in Lympne for our September meeting when our own Guy Topham described the metal smelting experiment he and some of our members carried out in 2020. We held another  Zoom meeting in October ,as the speaker was unable to travel, but returned to the Hall in November for a talk by Andrew Richardson on _Finding St Eanswythe_ in Folkestone. Sadly our planned Xmas celebration had to be cancelled as Omicron moved in. 

## **Meetings in 2022** 

Starting in January we were back to our regular meetings in the Hall with a full programme for the year. 

We had another Memories meeting in January with contributions from members and a number of other people who kindly sent memories or photos. 

In February our own detectorists Simon Read and Andy Fifield gave us a fascinating talk about their methods and displayed some of their finds. 




Our most recent meeting in March allowed us to explore the literary figures of Folkestone with Vince Williams. I had no idea so many well known authors had lived in the area and used the town and its surroundings in their work. 

Looking forward we have talks and outings planned until December. 

## **Information Board Stutfall** 

We have now received a very attractive the design for the Stutfall Castle information board which we hope will soon be erected on the cliff path overlooking the site. 

## **Archaeology** 

The magnetometry carried out on a number of local fields with the help of Richard Taylor has identified a number of interesting areas for exploration and we hope to investigate some of these in August with his help. The detectorists have found a number of Roman coins in the same fields and it looks likely that we could uncover a Roman site; maybe the civil settlement or vicus which has so far escaped detection although it must have at one time supported the Roman  military fort. The discovery of yet another Roman villa on the Otterpool site seems to indicate that Lemanis must have been quite a busy Roman settlement 2000 years ago and SHAL is keen to establish and map its remains. 

We hope this community dig can be organised in conjunction with Richard Taylor and anyone who is interested will be able to assist. 

## **Going Forward** 

SHAL seems to have survived the pandemic and is now looking forward to a busy and informative year.  Our thanks to the Committee and everyone else who has supported us with information and interest. Andy Fifield joined the Committee for a few months, thank you Andy, but then found his work commitment prevented him attending. He resigned, but I am happy to say remains a member and after his brilliant talk with Simon has promised another talk next year to share their coin finds. Alison Jackson kindly offered to join the 




Committee instead, but there is still space for further members, if anyone would like to join us. 

We are also very sad that Guy is resigning from the Committee his enthusiasm and energy have fuelled SHAL from the beginning and he has managed our funds brilliantly as Treasurer. We need a replacement and hope someone will come forward. Guy has promised to remain a member and visit us when he can from Canterbury as well as induct someone else into the mysteries of the accounts. 

**Commented [rs1]:** 



## SHAL 

## Studying History and Archaeology in Lympne 

Registered Charity No. 1168727 Unaudited Accounts 

**Income and Expenditure:year ended 31 March 2022** 

|**INCOME**|**2021/22**|**2020/21**|
|---|---|---|
|Membership Fees|710.00|100.00|
|Donations on the Day|47.00|27.00|
|Other Donations|36.73|5.12|
|Gift Aid||275.08|
|Visits and Events|143.00||
|**Total Income**|**936.73**|**407.20**|
|**EXPENDITURE**|||
|Venue Hire|86.52||
|Speakers and Events|510.00|110.00|
|KAS and KHF Membership|25.00|25.00|
|Insurance|96.00||
|Refreshments|25.54||
|Tythe Maps and Pens|50.98||
|Rembrance Wreath|21.00||
|Replacement Plaque||110.40|
|Other Expenditure|45.80|17.00|
|**Total Expenditure**|**860.84**|**262.40**|
|**Deficit/Surplus**|**75.89**|**144.80**|
|**ASSETS AND LIABILITITES**|**2021/22**|**2020/21**|
|Cash in hand and bank B/fwd|**1264.78**|**1119.98**|
|Income|936.73|407.20|
|Expenditure|-860.84|-262.40|
|Balance Carried Forward|**1340.67**|**1264.78**|
|**REPRESENTED BY**|||
|Metro Bank|1330.67|1254.78|
|Cash in Hand|10.00|10.00|
|**Total**|**1340.67**|**1264.78**|