Catch up on all the latest history news from across Kent with Finn Macdiarmid.
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00:00The Kent Chronicles, where we turn back time on all of Kent's history, from the Mesolithic
00:26era to the industrial revolution and everything in between. I'm Finn McDermid and we are going
00:32to discuss all things history tonight. But first, as much history as Kent does have,
00:38it's time to take a look at what's making the headlines around the country. So here's
00:42another installment of the History Roundup. On today's roundup, we take a look into a
00:46missing group of early American settlers. We also look at a new tribute to Sandwich's
00:51Sink ports, honouring a tradition dating back to 1066. And finally, tomorrow marks 391 years
00:58since the first recorded sale of a banana in the country.
01:02First up on today's History Roundup. On the 9th of April 1585, an expedition organised by
01:09Sir Walter Raley departed for Roanoke, now known as North Carolina. When the colony first landed,
01:15they faced a lot of issues. Following this, Mayor John White left for England to gain more
01:21supplies and manpower. However, on his return in 1590, he found that the entire colony had
01:28disappeared. All that remained was the word Croatoan carved into a tree. One theory suggests
01:34that the group joined the Native Americans to combat their lack of resources. Next, in Sandwich,
01:41a sculpture created by Carrie Hallward pays tribute to the Sink ports. The campus features arrows that
01:47point to the other four ports. The Sink ports were established pre-1066 for military and trade
01:55purposes. They were granted fiscal and financial privileges in return for loaning men and ships
02:01to the Crown, finally. Tomorrow marks 391 years since the first recorded sale of a banana. The first one
02:10sold came from Bermuda and are more similar to plantain. Bananas also became a symbol of the
02:17end of the Second World War. On the 9th of November 1940, the import of bananas was banned. Many war songs
02:25that looked to the end of the war featured the fruit. That's it for today's History Roundup.
02:33Now, one of Canterbury's staple shops that's been in the town for more than half a century
02:37is soon to shut its doors. And the owner has spoken out on how he's seen the city change over the years.
02:44Saracen's Lanterns, an antique store, was bought by Bill Christopher's in 1970 and has had Margaret
02:49Thatcher, Pope John Paul II and Desmond Tutu in and around the shop. Bill says he first fell in love
02:55with antiques after finding a rusty pistol while playing war games as a child in headcorn. And he
02:59added that it's with a heavy heart that he looks to shut the shop's doors by June this year.
03:04Rochester Pier has been closed again after reopening to the public just nine months ago.
03:10The landmark previously collapsed into the riverbank but has now been shut over safety concerns,
03:15with Medway Council working with specialists to make sure it can be opened again. The Friends of
03:19Rochester, Churchfield and Esplanade, who volunteered to get it reopened last year, said they were just
03:24about to start painting it and were let down by the news. The group continued their efforts to revive
03:29the pier to its former glory with suggestions of a cafe, bar or even live music venue to be proposed
03:34once the site is safe. And a very heartwarming story now of a married couple who've celebrated
03:40their 70th wedding anniversary and looked back at what it was all like back then. Jim and Brenda
03:45Collins from Coxheath are both in their 90s and they first met back in 1952 in Luce when they were in
03:51their late teens and married only four years later. For their honeymoon they stayed at the Royal Star in
03:562015 at Maidstone but now they celebrated their anniversary with a cruise along the river Medway with
04:01family and friends. They advised couples now that love is all about a give and take and making sure
04:09that you never part angry. Well, a big congratulations to the both of them.
04:16Next, Brands Hatch Racing Circuit was the site for a weekend of speed as it held the season opener for
04:21the 750 Motor Club. The group recently celebrated its 85th anniversary and aims to give enthusiasts
04:27a cheaper and more accessible way of entering motor racing. The club is home to many different racing
04:32series including the famous 750 Formula, the longest running championship in the world, even older
04:37than Formula One. Tim Forster went down to Brands Hatch over the weekend to speak with some of the
04:41drivers and organisers behind the event. The roar of engines and the smell of petrol filled the air at
04:49Brands Hatch as the 750 Motor Club arrived for their season opener. The club, designed as a low-cost entry
04:55into motorsports, has been running for over 85 years and shows no signs of stopping. Priding itself as the
05:02home of affordable motorsport, the club runs several series including the famous 750 Formula which has run
05:07for over 75 years. But where did it all start? Origins of the club go back to 1939 when you know motorsport
05:15was a you know a kind of rarefied pursuit for the very rich and the 750 Motor Club was formed as a
05:22kind of route to give sort of enthusiasts with kind of more modest ambitions a sort of route to actually
05:29participate in organised motorsport events. The ethos around 750 is always to keep it low cost,
05:35to allow people to come in on a tight budget to be able to come out and do racing on slicks and wings
05:41which I think is the best value for money you can get in racing in the UK. Founded in 1949,
05:47the 750 Formula is the longest continuously running motor racing championship in the world.
05:53Famous names like Colin Chapman, Golden Murray and Eric Broadley have all passed through its doors
05:57and it really stands as a home for designers and racers who want to get interested in motor racing
06:01at a low cost level. Cars like this Race Kids Falcon behind me cost just upwards of £5,000 to buy and
06:08then race here with the 750 Motor Club. I'm just an everyday working person I haven't got sponsors of
06:15hundreds of thousands to do other things even though everyone probably here would like to do that but
06:20this is this is what we've got and this is for what we're paying this is top probably better than
06:26some of the people that are paying top money. You won't find any slicks and wings racing cheaper
06:33than the 750 Formula. The 750 Formula is not the only racing series offered by the club
06:38but is unique for both its history and the fact that so many of its drivers have family connections
06:43to the Formula. My dad raced, my grandad raced in fact my grandad designed and built the car behind me
06:48so yeah it's been my life basically. When my dad used to race at 89 so I would just turn up and
06:56clean the wheels and do all the rubbish jobs so then when I started karting when I was eight.
07:02My grandad has done it for 50 odd years and his dad done it as well and then I've just been coming
07:08ever since I was a little boy really. My dad used to be in motorsport he used to be a navigator rally driving
07:14and it's not just the drivers. Many of the cars also have long connections with the club
07:18with names like Simpson and Cowley being synonymous with the 750 Formula. This is the fourth car that
07:25my grandad's built it was I think this one was built in 1991 and then in 2004 I think we switched
07:32engines and the first ever one to win the championship with the new engine in. Especially
07:36winning the car this car's first ever race after 40 odd years that was quite a tearful moment for me and
07:44my dad but it was very special that. Even the club itself has developed a family atmosphere
07:49as rivalries on track quickly turn into camaraderie off the circuit. Everyone's really friendly it's
07:55a brilliant atmosphere you know any issues with their cars or whatever then people always chip in
07:59and help it's it's it is that kind of formula. The club has a you know a rich history and it's sort
08:04of a privilege to sort of be part of that and keep it keep its legacy going. With a bright history and a
08:12promising future it doesn't look like the checkered flag will be coming down on this racing series
08:16anytime soon. Tim Forster, KMTV. Great package there. Now don't forget you can keep up to date
08:22with all your latest stories from across Kent by logging on to our website that's kmtv.co.uk
08:28but I like to take some time to visit some history stories that we've done around this time in
08:32previous years like this one all about the return of Kent's iconic red-billed chuff. Bartholomew
08:37Hall reported the story in March 2022. The red-billed chuff was once a staple of the Kent coastline.
08:44The species of crow appears on coats of arms flags and even pub signs across the county
08:50yet it has been extinct here for over 200 years. Now a conservation project by the Wildwood Trust is
08:57on a mission to see the birds soar once again over the white cliffs of Dover. A quartet of these birds
09:03who spent the winter at their birthplace the Wildwood Trust are now on their way back to Dover
09:08Castle where a custom-built avery awaits them. Laura Gardner is director of conservation at the
09:14Wildwood Trust and says this is an exciting time for everyone working on the project.
09:19So the fourth chapter going back to Dover Castle are ambassadors for the project so they're raising
09:24awareness because you know although the species sort of historically been present in Kent they've
09:32been missing for so long people have kind of forgotten about the cultural connection. Moving
09:36forward the project is expecting to see a new brood of chuffed chicks hatch within the next few weeks.
09:42It is the hope of the project that these birds will go on to make history when they are released in
09:47Dover later this year. We'll be releasing cohorts fairly small cohorts of birds every year for at least
09:54five years and then obviously the post-release monitoring as well we need to make sure that the
10:00birds are thriving not just surviving. The project has raised over £240,000 since it set up the Chuff
10:08Appeal last year. We are hugely grateful to the local communities and a major donor who have made it
10:17realistic for us to move forward. This is the first step in a long process as with all conservation
10:23projects. Visitors of Dover Castle will be able to see the ambassador birds when they arrive in the
10:28next few weeks. People that that haven't yet seen them go down see the birds find out about the project
10:34and actually see the Chuffs in their their sort of resplendent glory, their full plumage, their deep
10:42red beaks that they're now mature. They're actually looking like proper red bilge chuff.
10:48Bartholomew Hall for KMTV.
10:52Now very quickly before we go we'll do a little bit of history trivia that I like to call trivia through time.
11:03Now why was Elizabeth Barton, a servant of Henry VIII at Court Lodge Farm near Oldington,
11:07the only woman whose head was ever put on a spike at London Bridge?
11:11Why was Elizabeth Barton, a servant of Henry VIII at Court Lodge Farm near Oldington,
11:16the only woman whose head was ever put on a spike at London Bridge?
11:25Well it looks like the clock has hit its halfway mark but there's still
11:29more history to be uncovered as always. Join us after this short break where we'll speak to Dick Hogbin,
11:35who runs the Stansted History Society. And he worries that with his area's broadband problems,
11:40the last few years of making their archives digital could have been in vain. And all about
11:45what it means to run a local history archive. We'll have all that and more after the break,
11:50including your trivia answer. See you very soon.
12:05See you again.
12:09Hello, no, no.
12:11Do you want to talk about that?
12:12I have a twist on that.
12:16If you want to talk about theパパ,
12:17you can't speak about the whole text,
12:19but I just want to talk about the children,
12:21as if you will see that,
12:24because of you will find your charm.
12:25You can't talk about this.
12:27It's the only kind of speech.
12:29One thing would be heard about him as a woman who's trained in the past.
22:29much longer than I imagined.
22:31I thought, first of all, I was going to write a biography
22:33and that would take me two or three years, which it did.
22:36And then I passed it by a friend who was a memoir writer and a coach.
22:43He said, you know, this would make the most amazing memoir.
22:45Your life is very interesting as well
22:47and your relationship with John is very interesting,
22:50which you don't cover very much in your biography.
22:54So how about writing a memoir?
22:57Now, that wasn't what I originally intended to do.
23:00And it took quite a long time for me to face the fact
23:03that writing a memoir was a completely different book
23:05and I'd have to scrap what I'd done and start again.
23:10But I was persuaded to do that.
23:13And I think it is actually a better book for that.
23:17Yeah.
23:17Amazing.
23:18And tell us a bit about, obviously, you and John are very close.
23:21Can you tell us a bit about your own relationship
23:23and how that informed your position,
23:25having to be the author of a book about him,
23:28and were there editorial decisions you had to make
23:30that were particularly difficult?
23:33Oh, gosh, that's a good question.
23:36Yeah, obviously, this is somebody I loved
23:38and someone I knew very, very well.
23:40And so, but I also wanted to be very honest.
23:44And so I hope that comes across in the book as well.
23:49Yeah, I did it as an act of love for him, really,
23:51writing the biography.
23:53And then my own story came into it more and more, really,
23:59to explain why I related to him in the way I did
24:01and my own difficulties at times
24:04and how he helped me in some ways as well.
24:07So it's, the two stories are completely entwined, really.
24:13See, and Medway as a town is known particularly
24:17for its maritime history,
24:18especially with our historic dockyard.
24:20Do you think that with a lot of those histories
24:22that individual stories can sometimes almost be
24:25sort of swept under the rug?
24:26And how important do you think is it promoting stories
24:28like John's?
24:29Oh, it's very important, yeah,
24:30because his life, in a way, on the river,
24:34as a workman, he was a ferryman.
24:37He was ferried people from the Rochester Cruising Club
24:41from the pier onto the boats, onto their boats, their yachts.
24:45So he knew all the people there
24:47and was very fondly remembered by them.
24:51He also bought himself a tug and worked as a tugman.
24:56He worked, I would say, with the police,
24:58but he was very close to the police as well,
25:00so the police launch would often pull alongside
25:03and they'd have a brew and a fag
25:05and he was very involved on the river
25:08when the police weren't there,
25:10which was a lot of the time.
25:11And they went off at five
25:12and he was on the river the rest of the time,
25:14at night and so on.
25:16So he was very well aware of drownings
25:18and people jumping off the bridge
25:20and things and nefarious things
25:22that were going on on the river.
25:24So his life was completely,
25:26as he lived on the river,
25:27he lived on his tug on the river.
25:29So he was very well aware of all the things
25:32that were going on,
25:34though he was very discreet
25:35and he never discussed those things with anybody.
25:38The police knew they could trust him
25:40and his life, in a way,
25:43encapsulated that really busy time on the river
25:46before the port was closed,
25:49before the industry started closing down,
25:53before the container ships moved elsewhere.
25:56It was a busy place
25:57and that's when I knew it was like that too.
26:00So there was always something coming and going.
26:01It was really interesting to live there.
26:04And those people's lives were hard.
26:07They were hard.
26:08You never had to work in any weather,
26:10at any time.
26:12It was dangerous.
26:13People did fall in.
26:15People did have accidents.
26:17He saved a lot of people's lives as well,
26:19which he never wanted to talk about.
26:21He said, oh, that's part of the job.
26:22He was good at fishing people out of the river.
26:25And so, yes, his life was really epitomised,
26:30in a way, the life that was going on there.
26:32He knew it so well.
26:34Always interesting there to learn
26:36about interesting individuals from around the county.
26:39Well, that's all we have time for.
26:40You've been watching Kent Chronicles Live here on KMTV,
26:43and I'll see you very soon.
26:44Good night.
26:45Good night.