Unless otherwise stated, our meetings are in the Church
Hall of All Souls Church, Somerset Road, Cheriton,
Folkestone, CT19 4HA, on the first Thursday. Doors open
at 7pm, the talk to commence at 7.30.
All members and visitors welcome. A minimum donation of £2 is requested from visitors.
Visitors: if you are interested in taking part in a Zoom
meeting please contact
webmaster@folkfhs.org.uk to receive a link (7.25 for 7.30 pm
for a ZOOM meeting).
Folkestone Library (Grace Hill) has now been closed
since 9 Nov 2022.
HOWEVER, since the 20 Nov 2023 the Local History
material has been available again just across the
road at the Folkestone Library Heritage and Digital
Access, 5 Grace Hill, on Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri:
9:30am–1pm & 2pm–4:30pm — Wed: closed — Sat:
9:30am–1pm
OPENING HOURS at the Cheriton Library: Mon: 9am–5pm
(closed 1pm–2pm) — Tue: now open 9am–5pm (closed
1pm–2pm) — Wed: 9am–1pm — Thu: 9am–5pm (closed
1pm–2pm) — Fri: 10am–5pm (closed 1pm–2pm) — Sat:
10am–4pm (open an extra two hours). Most Kent
Libraries are open, check on line or by ringing
03000 413131.
The microfiche etc. are still in our cupboard in the
Cheriton Library.
Consultation about the future of Folkestone Grace
Hill Library:
Full details of KCC’s proposals at:
www.kent.gov.uk/folkestonelibrary
where their proposed ‘best option’ is to permanently
close Grace Hill building and relocate all present
Library Services (including birth/death registration
and local history) to FOLCA (previously
Debenhams)... but not to include the Sassoon Gallery
space.
Folkestone DC (who own Folca) are not in agreement
and would prefer community services provided by KCC
Libraries to remain at Grace Hill (see Folk DC
website). Apparently there was levelling up funding
for a health centre there...
Consultation is open until 11th September 2024.
Details can be obtained from their website, or by
collecting a document from any of the Folkestone
District Libraries (i.e. Hythe, New Romney, Lydd,
Sandgate, Wood Avenue, Cheriton, Lyminge or the
temporary Local Studies Centre at 5 Grace Hill).
Questionnaires can be answered on line, or by
filling in a paper copy, posting back or handing in
at any of the Folkestone District Libraries.
2025
January 2nd
ZOOM –
Interactive discussion
– Around an Ancestor you would like to have met and
why
– Group activity
February 6th
HALL
– From Bobby & Co. to Folca
– The name Bobby & Co was familiar in Folkestone for
seven decades and the story of 'Bobbys' starts with
the takeover of a 19th century shop. The store
relocated to the well-known Sandgate Road location
in 1931. Owned by the Debenham Group, the name was
eventually changed in the 1970s to Debenhams, under
which the shop ran until 2021. Following closure, it
was purchased by Folkestone & Hythe District
Council, renamed Folca and was used as a vaccination
centre during the Covid-19 pandemic.
– Vince Williams
March 6th
ZOOM
– A grandmother’s legacy: the 170 year old
recipe book
– A large leather bound book, which was started off
by my great great great grandmother, Wilhelmina
Hardy in 1844 containing her Portuguese / German /
English family recipes was then handed down to her
daughter who did the same, and that book kept on
getting handed down from generation to generation
(my talk centres on the recipes, the history of
those recipes and how that book evolves with each
generation reflecting where the grandmothers were
living at that time (i.e. we come across an early
version of the coroma curry which great great
grandma Maud wrote in 1900).
– Jenny Mallin
April 3rd
VISIT
– To Masonic Hall, Folkestone (time tba)
– Over 300 years of Freemasonry in Folkestone –
The part local Freemasons took in shaping the town –
Building: “Mid C19. 2 storeys and basement cement
rendered. Pediment with modillion cornice decorated
with Masonic tools and the Latin motto “Audi, Vide,
Tace”. The 1st floor has 4 Roman Ionic half columns
and 2 plain pilasters. 5 round-headed windows. Stone
balustrading between ground and lst floor.
Rusticated ground floor. Ground floor has cambered
headed windows with keystones. Tuscan porch.
Balustrading to basement.” (https:
May 1st
ZOOM
– Unusual first names
– The talk focusses on the period, c1750 – c1950. It
covers the main types of forename that I have
identified, including tribute names, commemorative
names and localised names. It looks at the
inspiration for these names, their rise (and
decline), what they may indicate to a historian
about social class or wider society, and the effect
that an unusual forename might have on the bearer.
– Denise Bates
June 5th
HALL
– How to use cemetery records for family
history
– Rob & Carole Moody
July 3rd
ZOOM
– Charity Records and Pauper Ancestors
– Learn how records of local charities, combined
with numerous other sources, can help illuminate the
lives of your pauper ancestors. The talk features a
case study.
– Richard Holt
August 7th
HALL
– Interactive discussion
– The Story you will be leaving (about yourself) for
future family historians to discover?
– Group activty
September 4th
ZOOM
– To be decided
– Speaker
October 2nd
HALL
– AGM followed by “History of a House”
– Janet Adamson
November 6th
ZOOM
– Newspapers for Family History
– How to use newspapers to flesh out your family
tree
– Celia Heritage
December 4th
HALL
– Christmas dinner followed by a Quiz
Owing to age restrictions on the insurance of
drivers, we are no longer able to hire a minibus for
trips to Kew.
Occasionally members may drive to Kew and can offer
lifts to other members, sharing expenses.
If you are interested, please e-mail
coaches@folkfhs.org.uk
Jenny Watson will arrange walks round Canterbury or London if we let her know where we would like to visit.