History of Rainham Kent, Old Photos and Life in Bygone Times
Rainham Telephone Numbers
This list of Rainham Telephone Numbers from 1908 was compiled by David Auger from British Phone Books. These show the local Rainham businesses in the early 20th Century and the growth of the telephone between 1908 and 1925.
July 1908
Rainham 1 PUBLIC CALL OFFICE E. Cozens
Rainham 10 ADIE Charles , Jobmaster “White Horse”
Rainham 15 ASSOCIATED Portland Cement Manufacturers
(1900) Ltd ( Clay Manager ) Newport villas
Rainham 2 BARRON & Co. Ltd, Portland Cement Manfrs Falcon Cement wks
Rainham 12 BRICE S.J. & Sons Clay Merchants Tufton rd
Rainham 8 BRICE W. & G., Clay Merchants Station rd
Rainham 4 CO-OPERATIVE Society Rainham
Rainham 9 CURLING Walter Philip , Handicapper Lion hotel
Rainham 5 KEMP Bros, Builders & Contractors Rainham
Rainham 14 KNIGHT Alfred Joseph , Brick Manufr Otterham quay
Rainham 11 MARTIN, Earle & Co. Ltd., Cement Mnfrs Wickhm Rchstr
Rainham 6 PENFOLD Fred W. H., Surgeon Maidale house
Rainham 3 POLES H. N. Cement Manufacturer Rainham
Rainham 13 SCOTT Fred , Farmer Rainham
Rainham 7 WAKELEY Bros, Corn, Brick Mrchnts Rainham
Rainham 16 WAKELEY Joseph Moor st ho
July 1909
Rainham 1 PUBLIC CALL OFFICE Cozens, E.
Rainham 10 ADIE Charles , Jobmaster “White Horse”
Rainham 2 BARRON & Co. Ltd, Portland Cement Manfrs Falcon Cement wks
Rainham 12 BRICE S.J. & Sons, Clay Merchants Tufton rd
Rainham 8 BRICE W. & G., Clay Merchants Station rd
Rainham 4 CO-OPERATIVE Society Rainham
Rainham 9 CURLING Walter Philip , Handicapper Lion hotel
Rainham 5 KEMP Bros, Builders & Contractors Rainham
Rainham 14 KNIGHT Alfred Joseph , Brick Manufr Otterham quay
Rainham 11 MARTIN, Earle & Co. Ltd., Cement Mnfrs Wickhm Rchstr
Rainham 6 PENFOLD Fred W. H., Surgeon Maidale house
Rainham 3 POLES H. N. Cement Manufacturer Rainham
Rainham 1 POST Office (for Postal facilities ONLY) High st
Rainham 13 SCOTT Fred , Farmer Rainham
Rainham 16 WAKELEY Joseph Moor st ho
Rainham 7 WAKELEY Bros, Corn, Brick Merchants Rainham
January 1910
Rainham 1 RAINHAM High Street Cozens, E.
Rainham 10 ADIE Charles , Jobmaster “White Horse”
Rainham 2 BARRON & Co. Ltd., Portland Cement Manfrs Falcon Cement wks
Rainham 12 BRICE S.J. & Sons, Clay Merchants Tufton rd
Rainham 8 BRICE W. & G., Clay Merchants Station rd
Rainham 4 CO-OPERATIVE Society Rainham
Rainham 9 CURLING Walter Philip , Handicapper Lion hotel
Rainham 5 KEMP Bros, Builders & Contractors Rainham
Rainham 14 KNIGHT Alfred Joseph , Brick Manufr Otterham quay
Rainham 11 MARTIN, Earle & Co. Ltd., Cmnt Mnfrs Wickhm Rchstr
Rainham 6 PENFOLD Fred W. H., Surgeon Maidale house
Rainham 3 POLES H. N. Cement Manufacturer Rainham
Rainham 1 POST Office (for Postal facilities ONLY) High st
Rainham 13 SCOTT Fred , Farmer Rainham
Rainham 15 WADE Arthur C. , “Alindene” Century rd
Rainham 16 WAKELEY Joseph Moor st ho
Rainham 7 WAKELEY Bros, Corn, Brick Merchants Rainham
September 1924
Rainham 10 ADIE Charles , Jobmaster “White Horse”
Rainham 35 ANDREWS C. E., Estate Agent, Buses Wigmore ho
Rainham 19 Barclays Bank Ltd. Rainham
Rainham 2 BARTLETT A., Motor Engineer 4 High st
Rainham 23 BATES Edward Macklands
Rainham 12 British Standard Cement Co. Wharf rd
Rainham 15 CLARK W. A., Farmer Pump fm Lr Rainham
Rainham 37 COLYER W. E., Stores, Estate Agent Rainham mark
Rainham 4 Co-operative Society Rainham
Rainham 24x3 DICKER Rev. A. G. H. Upchurch Rctry
Rainham 22 DURRELL W. & R. Genl. Engrs., Mlwrghs London rd
Rainham 11 Eastwoods Ltd., Brickmakers Lwr Halstow Nwngtn
Rainham 42 FILMER A. E. Waverley Lwr Rainham
Rainham 33y3 FINCH Rev. J. A. The Vicarage Brht
Rainham 17y3 FOX L. J. St Josephs Maidstone rd
Rainham 31 GILLHAM E. R. York rd Wigmore
Rainham 24y3 GRAY Major M. K. East Moor
Rainham 28 GROVE F. E., Irnmngr, Hrdwre Dmstc Rainham market
Rainham 32y HALES W., Butcher Upchurch S’borne
Rainham 24x1 HARVEY Leonard , Estate Agent Ottenham farm
Rainham 18 HERROD L. M. Horticultural Chemist Rainham
Rainham 24y2 HINGE A., Farmer Horsham fm Upch
Rainham 33y2 HOGG W. H. , Farmer Bredhurst
Rainham 26 HOLLANDS Helena Maria P.O. Hartlip
Rainham 20 The International Tea Co.’s Stores Ltd. 92 Station rd
Rainham 29 JONES J. T. , Florist & Fruiterer 10 London rd
Rainham 5 KEMP Bros, Builders & Contractors Rainham
Rainham 33x1 KING Edward , Builder, Haulge Cntrctr King’s Lanley
Rainham 34 LACK W., Builder Heathfld Wigmore
Rainham 33y1 LEWIS G. I. W. , Commander R.N. Greencrt Bredhrst
Rainham 3 MATTOCKS F. T. Architect & Surveyor 111 Station rd
Rainham 36 MOAKES Charles Watling ho London rd
Rainham 33x2 MONDAY J., Licensed Victualler The Bell Bredhurst
Rainham 9 MOORE James Wm., Licensed Victuallr Lion Hotel
Rainham 24y1 O’CONNELL T. B., Brickworks Otterham quay
Rainham 38 PACKER Fred , Motor Haulage Cntrctr 33 High st
Rainham 8 POPE H. C. , Major R.M. Meresborough ho
Rainham 32x PRESLAND G. E. , Grocer & Draper Upchurch
Rainham 13 SCOTT Mrs. Fred. , Hop, Fruit Grower Rainham
Rainham 14 SIEMS & Son, Turf accountants Milton ho
Rainham 24x5 SOUTH Bert , Butcher & Grocer Halstow Sittingbourne
Rainham 21 STEWART James, Farmer Bloors pl Lr Rainham
Rainham 25 STINTON A. V. , Builder & Contractor Rainham
Rainham 17y2 SWAIN G. C. , Builder & Decorator Wigmore G’ham
Rainham 6 SYMONS Percival Washington , Medical
Practitioner Mardale ho
Rainham 43 TADMAN J. & Son, Wholesale Fruiterers Cntrctr High st
Rainham 17y1 TAYLOR Clifford John , Surgeon Karnak Woodside Wigmore
Rainham 17x3 TICKNER Mrs. K. , Tea, Tennis Grounds St Elmo Wigmore
Rainham 17y4 TURNER Edmund, Cooper Wigmore
Rainham 33x4 VELLA & Sons, Pig Breeders The Victory, Matts hill
Rainham 17x4 WAGNER J. J., Lieut. R.N. Talavera Wigmore
Rainham 7 WAKELEY Bros. (Rainham Kent Ltd.) Rainham
Rainham 16 WAKELEY Joseph Moor St ho
Rainham 27 WAKELEY Sydney Church ho
Rainham 30 WERNETT A. J. Hamilton av
Rainham 41 Wigmore & District Smallholders Club Springvale
Rainham 17x1 Window Cleaning & Carpet Beating Co. (The
Competent) Oakdene Springvale Wigmore
Rainham 24y4 WRAIGHT T. J. , Baker & Confectioner Upchurch S’brne
Twydall Kent in 1960s
We moved to Lyminge Close, Twydall in 1960 from our wartime built pre-fab in Wigmore when I was 15 months old. Pictured are the 'modern' post war shops but there was also an older red-brick parade opposite. Out of shot on the right of the picture was 'Perks' a dry goods grocers where Mum would buy flour, rice - all sold loose from large wooden bins and served in paper cones expertly folded up from sheets on the counter by the shopkeeper. Even further up on the corner was Cross's the butchers. Well known for being sour faced and sarcastic, Cross was one of three butchers in Twydall; now a dying breed.
Opposite in the older parade was a wet fish shop which became a chippy at night, the library, the Copper Kettle Tea Room/Corner Shop and my favourite place in the world - Arnold's. Tucked away in the far corner, along from the C.K., they sold toys, hundreds of them. It was cheek by Jowl with a milliners and when Mum shopped for her stuff, I was allowed to stand outside and press my nose against Arnold's window. Back on the side pictured, there was a Rumbelows at the lower end for TV's, Radiograms and the booming 45rpm single market. Far left, beyond the bottom of the parade was the good old Royal Engineer. Was there ever a night when there wasn't a fight there? In later years we would spend a pleasant hour or two dodging glasses and combatants while drinking their overpriced Stella Artois (nothing is new) which was then a novelty - 1970's pubs would barely have one lager pump among all the bitters and milds, the Engineer had two.
The gap between the pub and the first shop pictured (waste land for many years) would be filled before the end of the 60's with a Liptons, for many of us the first Supermarket we'd ever seen. Forbouys was the newsagents who in the 1960's had Jambouree Bags with cheap sweets and toys, but also a 'Lucky Dip' a thin wooden flour barrel filled with sawdust. You paid 3d (1p!) and dove your hand into the barrel and grabbed one item. It would be anything from a Barrats Sherbert fountain, to a plastic toy. Next door was Woolworths (Woolies) which in those days still had the wooden floor, the island counters and the ubiquitous weighing machine at the door. Mum worked there as did (eventually) I on Saturdays but by then, a more modern Woolies had developed.
Ice cream would be bought in blocks, wrapped in newspaper to be taken home, every week the rag'n'bone man would come up our Close - like Steptoe and Son with a horse drawn cart. The onion seller would bring a cycle laden with huge onions, and on another day the peanut and toffee apple man would be there as well, also with everything on a bike. Developments over the years included the oddly shaped Holy Trinity Church built on wasteland land I used to play on. The lovely green area we played football on the right by the library was paved over to become a car park, and the doctor's surgery opposite the Church. For school we'd walk up Twydall Lane in the direction of the now defunct Bowaters and head into the infants, until we were 7 and had to go a little further up to Romany Road Primary which would take us past Tabearts. They sold just about everything, but the attraction for us kids was that he had rows and rows of sweets in Jars, sold by the quarter pound (100g in new money); I still remember the sweet smell in the shop of all that sugar just waiting to be bought.
Public transport in the 1960's defied modern belief. Twydall was served by at least three separate but related Maidstone and District (M&D) bus routes which ran to and from the Nelson Road Bus Depot. All would run along Beechings Way past the Golf course. The No. 1 and 1A, would turn up Eastcourt Lane, while the 1B continued down Beechings Way ending up at the bottom of Pump Lane. The other two turned along Goudhurst Road with the 1A following it past the shops at the bottom and turning round the bend to meet Beechings Way again, where it would turn back. Only the No. 1 would go up past the shops turning left along Waltham Road (lined on one side with police houses) on down Begonia Avenue to Hawthorne Road. All were double deckers with Clippies, but unlike the London routemasters the buses had closed rear decks. These days everyone uses their car, but then no-one had cars. Those buses were full; bottom and (hideously, smoking permitted) upper decks. Lyminge Close had a small parking area, which would hold 6 or so cars, the rest given over to play areas where football matches resembling the 'Wall Game' would sweep back and forth all afternoon.
I last visited a year or so back, and some 20 cars seemed to be parked in an enlarged area which encroached on virtually all the grass, with all the kids probably inside with their PS3's. Our play rules were simple, we left after breakfast with a cheese sandwich in our pocket and were home before dark. We either headed 'down' to Sharps Green, or 'Up' to the Darland Banks (which were north and south respectively) crossing the lethal Watling Street (A2) in the process. Somehow we all survived to be flabby and fifty.
I left Twydall in the mid 70s and travelled and lived at odd spots in and around the world before settling back in Sussex, about 70 miles away. On the few occasions I've been back though it feels further. I watched England win the World Cup, both Kennedy's and MLK get assassinated, and Neil Armstrong walk on the moon while living there, no wonder my memories are rooted firmly in the turbulent 1960s.
Stop Pump Lane Development
Developers want to build 1250 new houses on the orchards that run between Pump Lane and Bloors Lane, and also between Pump Lane & Lower Twydall Lane. The Lower Rainham Road cannot cope with the volume of traffic now, let alone with an extra 1,250 houses. Not to mention doctors, schools and Medway hospital. Please share this page around and let the council know that we are all opposed to this. The deadline for objections is 16 November 2020
For more info visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/saveourorchards
Make your representation (objection) here: https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/ Case Reference: 3259868
Memories of the Rainham Mark Area in the 1940s & 50s
Some weeks ago I was shown some postcards of the Rainham Mark area. Having spent most of my teenage years living at 140 Hawthorne Avenue memories of this familiar place in the 1940s and 50s came back into focus. ln the war years and immediately afterwards the collection of shops at Rainham Mark were like a mini High street. The Beehive Stores, run by an elderly couple, stood on the comer of Caldew Avenue and the A2. This was a little goldmine that sold anything that didn’t need a ration book. Vegetables spilled from sacks and battered boxes on the floor whilst an old flypaper dangled from the light fitting above. Next door was Highlys, the butchers, where queues of hatted wicker basket carrying housewives formed when off the ration offal was available. Nearby was Mr Beards Post Office, he also sold writing paper, ink, coloured pencils and Gloy glue. Mr Beard had the most impeccable copperplate handwriting, no matter how long the queue if he was not satisfied with the way he had written a form whilst seated on his high stool like a character from Dickens with his trusted dip pen he would throw it away and start again.
Between the post office and the butchers was Rainham Marks wartime equivalent to B&Q. Miss Bunton’s open fronted shed style shop sold everything in the hardware trade from brooms and brushes to hinges, paint, distemper, creosote, pegs, washing lines, garden spades and forks plus nails and screws sold by the pennyworth and wrapped in newspaper. One essential also provided at this emporium was re-charging accumulators which were used to power wireless sets which could not be plugged into power sockets but relied on these heavy appliances about the size of a modern car battery. I can still see Miss Bunyon in her ladies style, faded blue, bib and brace boiler suit, hessian apron and woollen hat.
The chippy just towards Gillingham is perhaps the only shop which has survived for well over sixty years, however it has lost its ‘bring your own newspaper’ sign. The Vets was on the opposite side of the A2 at the side of a neat bungalow. Down Hawthorne Avenue is Ashley Road which links to Pump Lane. l can’t remember with any accuracy what the row of shops were but just after the war the newsagents on the corner was called Milligans. I delivered papers for them, my round being the whole of Begonia Avenue to where it ended in a cabbage field long before Twydall Green shopping centre was built.
Most households had their papers, magazines and comics delivered through the letterbox. I recall quite clearly receiving seven and sixpence a week (37p in todays money). I’m informed £25 is the going rate today. In the middle of the row of Ashley Road shops was Coopers the grocers and at the end Miss Chapman’s greengrocers. She ran the shop with her brother George, a D Day veteran who in winter always wore his army great coat. Giving up the paper round I then worked for Miss Chapman and George. On Friday evenings after school I did local deliveries on the shop bike and boiled the beetroot (much to my mothers disgust due to the smell).
On Saturdays starting at 6.00am with another lad from Pump Lane and George we loaded the ex-army Fordson open truck with a canvas cab ready for the green grocery round through Twydall, Eastcourt, Woodlands and Lower Gillingham, all for the sum of £1. The bonus of this job was that l learnt to drive this old army truck. Seven years later as a National Serviceman RASC driver I was driving an identical truck in Suez ~ this time legally. Happy days.
John K. Austin
Siloam in Rainham - Part 1
SILOAM in Rainham Part 1
The house that stands today is surrounded by fields and situated about half a mile south of the A2 and several hundred yards east of Mierscourt Road. It is a Grade II Listed Building dating from the 17th C or earlier but has been extended and altered in the mid- 20th C. It is timber-framed, L-shape in plan and one room in depth. The ground floor walls are of red brick and those of the upper floor are rendered and tile hung. Outside is a traditional walled garden with a rear stable block.
J .K.Wallenberg in his book Kentish Place-Names says the name is derived from the Old English word syle meaning ‘miry place’ + hamm, i.e. a home near a pool or muddy area. He also mentions some early recorded variations in spelling, viz. Syleham (1226), Sil-, Sylhamme (1304), de Silhamme, Silham (both l4 th. C) At the beginning of Vol. VI of the second edition of Edward Hasted’s History of Kent, published between 1797 and 1801, there is a description of the parish of Rainham, which he tells us was in the Hundred of Milton. He states that ‘The paramount manor of Milton claims over this parish, subordinate to which is the manor of SILHAM, or Sileham-court, as it is now usually called, in the southern part of the parish, of which William Auburie died possessed in the 1st year of Edward I (1272-3) After which it came into the possession of Peter de Meredale‘, in right of Agnes his wife, by whom he had two sons, William and Roger, who were possessed of it jointly, as heirs in gavelkind, in the reign of Edward II’ (1307-27) Agnes was the daughter of William Auburie.
But Hasted also says, further on, that another family, called Toketon, (the name was later changed to Tufton) was associated with Siloam and other lands in Rainham during the preceding hundred years. Many of the records that survive from the past are about the ownership and transfer of land and the rents paid. For example Sir William de Toketon (born c.1200) lived in the Lathe of Scray in Kent at the latter end of the 13th C either at Sileham or at Tufton in Rainham in Kent. He is mentioned in a deed of John de Madetune, who ‘grants and confirms to William de Toketon and John his son, half a mark in money, a yearly rent of ten pence and a hen, which Geofry de Meredale used to pay out of a tenement, with appurtenances, near a lane leading to Sileham on the east, also an acre and three roods of land lying in field called Hamme, and other lands thereabouts, paying yearly a pound of cummin, or a penny.’ Sir William’s grandson Roger de Toketon (b.1250) about 1280 was deeded with John de Renham ‘certain arable land purchased of Peter de Mere, lying in the borough of Mere in Rainham, paying a rose at Midsummer, in consideration of 4 pounds in money’
After mentioning William and Roger, sons of Peter de Meredale, Hasted continues ‘After which it became the property of Donet, which family increased its possessions in this parish by the purchase of the estate of Roger de Reynham, in the reign of Edward III (1327- 1377) At length it descended down to James Donet, who died in 1409. He lies buried in the high chancel of this church, in one of the windows of which were formerly his arms, Argent, three pair of barnacles, gules’ An inscription, in Latin, recording his death, can be found on a brass plate let into a slab in the floor of the chancel of St. Margaret’s Church, Rainham. 
Notes:
1 A person had a Christian name followed by the name of the place where he lived, in this
case Meredale, which was also in Rainham.
1 Gavelkind. A system of inheritance, particularly in Kent, whereby estates were equally
divided amongst sons, and in the absence of male heirs equally amongst daughters.
The Rev.A.J. Pearman writing just over a hundred years ago states ‘the early history of
the Tuflon’s, as connected with Rainham, is involved in some obscurity. There can be
no doubt that a family of this name held property in the parish as long ago as the time
of King John (1 190-1216); and there is a tract of ground near Moor Street called
Tufions, which in all likelihood was their original inheritance. But it is equally certain
that the existing family, now seated at Hothfield , came from Northiam, and obtained
their estates in Rainham by the marriage of Sir John Tufion with Olympia Bloor in the
reign of Elizabeth (1588-1603). The probability is that the early Rainham Tufton’s
were an offshoot of the parent stock at Northiam and have long been extinct. They do
not appear at any time to have been the chief residents in the parish’
3
SILOAM in Rainham. Part 2
In his History of Kent Hasted also says this of James Donet, who died in 1409, ‘On his death without male issue his sole daughter and heir, Margaret, carried this manor in marriage to John St. Leger esq., of Ulcombe, Sheriff anno 9, Henry VI, (1430-31) Hasted is mistaken in calling James Donet’s daughter Margaret; her name was Margery. Several generations of the Donet family lived at Siloam. John St. Leger who was knighted died in 1442. His memorial is the brass of a man in armour of the Lancastrian period which is mounted on a board in the north aisle of Ulcombe church (the inscription is missing) His wife Margery is buried beside him in Ulcombe church. A long line of St. Leger’s resided at Ulcombe, acquired manors and wealth, intermarried with the chief families of Kent and frequently served the office of Sheriff and represented the County in Parliament. They had four sons, Ralph the eldest, who succeeded his father at Ulcombe, Bartholomew, Thomas and James. Of the four Thomas was the one who left his mark on Rainham.
Some of you may remember that several years ago The Rev. R.Allington-Smith, a former vicar of Rainham, arranged an exhibition in the church entitled ‘The World of Thomas St.Leger’. This is what he said in the Publicity Release ‘Sir Thomas St.Leger, Knight of the Bath, lived from 1440 to 1483. Born of a Kentish family, the St.Legers of Ulcombe, he fought on the Yorkist side in the War of the Roses, became esquire and later knight of the body to King Edward IV and married the King’s sister, Anne of Exeter. He was much in favour with the King who employed him extensively in the affairs of the Kingdom, including foreign diplomacy. His connection with Rainham lies in the fact that he lived for a time at the manor of Siloam in this parish and was involved in the building of the great tower of the parish church. He was also instrumental in putting up the ‘canopy of honour’ inside the church painted with Yorkist ‘sun-in-splendour’ devices. The church is in fact a part of the exhibition.
After Edward IV’s death Thomas St.Leger, with many other Kentish knights, became implicated in Buckingham’s conspiracy against Richard III. After its collapse he was beheaded at Exeter in 1483’ It was once suggested that Sir Thomas lies buried in the chest-like monument under the easternmost arch of the arcade dividing the chancel from the chapel in St.Margaret’s church. As this is shorter than normal it was argued that it must contain the body of a headless individual namely Sir Thomas St.Leger. The truth is that he was interred alongside that of his wife in the Rutland Chantry in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. He had founded it for Ann in 1481. Incorporated in the battlement on the north side of the tower of St. Margaret’s church are three shields, all eroded, one of which would probably have displayed the St. Leger coat of arms if Sir Thomas had been involved in the building of the tower.
The subject of who was responsible for the ‘canopy of honour’ or celure on the ceiling of the nave and its interpretation has given rise to much debate- but that is another story. Hasted continues ‘Sir Anthony St. Leger, (d.1559) lord deputy of Ireland in King Henry VIII th’s reign (1509-1547) sold the manor of Sileham, or Sileham-court to Christopher Bloor esq. who rebuilt his seat in this parish called Bloor's Place, in which his ancestors had resided for several generations.’
Christopher had a daughter, Olympiaz, who by her marriage to John Tufton of Hothfield, near Ashford in Kent, the Tuftons came to possess not only Siloam but other estates in the neighbouring parishes that were owned by the Bloor family. They remained in the possession of the Tufton family until sometime in the 20‘h C. John was Sheriff of Kent in 1575, knighted in 1603 and became a baronet in 1603. He was buried, along with Olympia and his second wife Christian Browne, in the vaults at Hothfield church. These were prone to flooding and so in 1770 their remains were brought to Rainham. Along with other members of the family they were placed in the vaults beneath the Tufton chapel in St. Margaret’s church which are thought to have been built by Olympia’s father. My paternal grandfather came from near Thame in Oxfordshire and moved to Kent at the end of the 19"‘ C looking for work. Wakeley’s who were farmers at Meresborough gave him employment and he lived at Siloam, which was owned by them. At that time it was divided into two parts to accommodate two families of farm workers. My father spent his childhood there and I visited Siloam, as a boy, a number of times to see my grandparents. In particular I can remember the enormous fireplace in the house and a pump in the yard where water was drawn from a well. The house and estate comprising 66 acres was sold off in parcels by auction in 1986. Notes: 1 A more reasonable explanation for the shortening of the tomb (if indeed it is a tomb) is that it was done in order to allow priests to pass from chancel to chapel. 2 Olympia died without having a son. Sir John’s descendants (who became Earls of Thanet) came from his second marriage, which produced six sons and four daughters.
Eric Cross
Elm Plastics Staff Photo - Motney Hill Road Rainham Kent
Elm Plastics was based in Motney Hill Road in Rainham Gillingham Kent. These photos show some of the workers there in the 1960s or 1970s. Can you identify any of the people in the photos? There could be a member of the Knight family in at least one photo. The Managing Director was Mr R Michalkiewicz and is mentioned in the Lower Rainham Coronation party article in 1953 as having given souvenir books to the children at the party.
Update - 4 people identified so far. Thanks to Jane Absolom, Sandra Perkins, Emma Wilson & Rachel Davis!
Back row , second from left is Hilda Hook, middle is Jean Stitt, Ethel Black on right in yellow.
Front row - middle - Jean Sabey in red
Her friend Lil Grant will be in it somewhere
The only online info I can find about the factory is this announcement in the Edinburgh Gazette in Sept 1968:
IN accordance with Section 117 of the Factories Act 1961, the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity hereby gives notice that, during the month ending 30th September 1968, she has made special exemption orders relating to the employment of women and/or young persons at the following Factories: Elm Plastics Ltd., Motney Hill Road, Rainham, Gillingham
They are mentioned again in 1982 for the same exemption for women and young people.
The Oasthouse Theatre - Diamond Anniversary 2023
The Oasthouse Theatre
RaTS was founded back in 1948 and, until the society acquired its own theatre, it performed in St Margaret’s Church Hall (demolished in 2001). The Oasthouse (over 160 years old) belonged to local landowner and farmer, Jack Clark. The Rainham Theatrical Society acquired the Oasthouse in 1961 and set about converting it into a theatre.
Its doors opened to the public on 8 Nov 1963, with a production of Billy Liar. As the curtains opened, a ripple of applause ran through the tiny auditorium. The dream of Rainham having its own theatre had become a reality! They were to become the First Oasthouse Theatre in the World. Brenda Pearson, who appeared in that first production, is still a member 60 years later! When the theatre first opened, it had a ladder for actors to reach the backstage area; certainly not allowed within today’s health and safety requirements - a stone staircase was built in the late 60’s. Over the years, there have been many improvements made to the facilities, benefitting both members and audiences alike.
When the theatre first opened, some lights and carpets came from the Globe Theatre in Chatham. Seating came from a local naval barracks canteen and the Globe Theatre. The current seating (which has been re-furbished twice) came from a cinema in Bexley. At first, the group rented the property but, in 1965, they were given the chance to buy the building for £4800. They set about securing a mortgage on it and the first repayment of £25 was made on 1 October 1966. At last, the RaTS had a theatre of their own and as the saying goes… the rest is history!
This month we will be hosting an evening with two of our Patrons: comedian and former BBC Radio Kent presenter, Paul Harris, and Nicholas Robinson, who played the young boy in the TV drama Goodnight, Mister Tom. Our 2024 panto Mother Goose then opens on 12 January. We are always delighted to welcome new members and, with 5 main productions a year, there’s always a chance to ‘tread the boards’. As a full member you can audition for all entertainment performed at the Theatre.
If you prefer to help ‘behind the scenes’, we can find plenty to keep you busy! Whether that is building sets, working in the wardrobe, pulling pints or pouring tea, you’re guaranteed a fun time! Everyone aged 16+ is welcome and, with a large percentage of members having been involved for over 20 years, you will soon become ‘one of the family’! Since doors first opened in 1963, there have been 59 pantos performed and over 340 plays, musicals and revues. Coming up over winter we have: Sat 11 Nov - An evening with our Patrons Fri 17 & Sat 18 Nov - Showstoppers Jan 12-Feb 3 (each Fri/Sat) - Mother Goose
