The Historical Research Group of Sittingbourne had a stand at the DS Smith ‘100 years of Kemsley Vintage Fair held at The Appleyard Sports Ground, Gore Court Road on Saturday 13th July. There were five of us manning the stall, Myles Brown, Janet Halligan, John Weeks and us. We had a most enjoyable afternoon, meeting and talking with DS Smith past and present employees, as well as letting the community know about HRGS’ research and archaeological work locally. We also promoted the children focused heritage scheme – Wheels of Time, which now has 57 sites across the county of Kent. We even had the pleasure of meeting the Mill Manager David Deparis and Mill Director Rogier Gerritsen plus family descendants of the Sittingbourne mill owner, Edward Lloyd, whose son Frank Lloyd then built Kemsley Mill. There were three generations present of the Jordan family enjoying the day.
HRGS had assisted the DS Smith team with their research into their ‘amazing’ new ‘100 years of Kemsley Mill’ book. It was a great reward that we were invited to join in the family fun as well as have a stall. We took it in turns to go round the various marquees and stalls. All the stalls were free. There was an old fashioned coconut shy stall (brought up to date, with a metal flip version), fish a duck from the water, dodgem cars, a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, jumbo sack racing, tug-a-war, all in wrestling. We had the pleasure of the Sittingbourne UK Paper Silver Band as well as live dancers, singing and music acts… something for everyone.
The marquee that we had a space in housed a plethora of information, as you can imagine, that has been collected over 100 years of the mill being in operation. It was very popular, and not just because Clare Marshall, had the books available to pick up. Clare had been pivotal in the pulling together all of the information for the book (and the displays) to enable DS Smith to produce the 2000 copies they have had printed. These were being given away to those who had contributed, and current employees. A limited number are available from the Heritage Hub for a donation. The minimum suggestion is £15, but those who have seen the book think £20-£25 more appropriate. Come and take a look in the Heritage Hub yourself. As a member of HRGS you can borrow our copy in our library.
There were so many things to look at on the old UK Paper Social Club site, now run by ‘The Appleyard’, that it was hard to know where to look first. At the entrance way was a huge (3m x 18 m) timeline of the history of the Kemsley Mill. It did really showcase the significant impact that the paper industry had on our community. Once the largest Paper Mill in the world, it is still the largest Paper Mill in the UK, and proud that it has twice the production of any other UK paper mill.
It was a real treat to see various cardboard products being made into items that could be easily assembled, utilised and then quickly taken down again. All re-recyclable out of paper. These items were from the Hinkley depot in Leicester.
There was also face-painting, heritage themed transport displays, remote controlled model lorries to practice parking, and remote controlled fork-lift trucks for the children to practise moving paper rolls. (Maybe it was a subliminal recruitment campaign…well it always was a father and son occupation for the town.) There were Shift vs Day staff 1920s themed football match, arts and crafts stalls. Additionally there was also a lucky employee who had been picked to be a passenger in a Spitfire flyover. That was probably our only disappointment, as the flyover was more of a fly-round. We could see the Spitfire in the distance, but we were all keen to see it swoop down low and ‘entertain’ us all. Sadly it was not to be. But the weather was just about kind to us to enable all the families to visit the stalls and enjoy the free fun day. Food and drink had to be paid for and throughout the event DS Smith made it clear that all monies raised would go to their chosen Centenary charity, The Kent Cancer Trust, whose aim it is to make a positive difference to cancer care in Kent.
The highlight was when we spotted an image of a face peeping out of one of the heritage marquees. It was just as if Frank Lloyd was peering in at us have a good day, like he was enjoying his legacy that he started just 100 years ago!