The branch annual outdoor meeting was led by HBHRS guides Margaret Burns, Mike Bundock & Colleen Ashwin who dressed in the style of the past: when Herne Bay was a Victorian resort.
Members strolled with their guides along the sea font on a beautiful evening learning about the origins of the town. We ended up at the HBHRS’s newly opened museum: close to the clock tower where refreshments were served.
For centuries The Bay was a fishing hamlet for the village of Herne. After the Napoleonic Wars regency terraced buildings started the creation of a small resort that had developed into a town by 1832. It was very nearly named St Augustine's Bay. Herne Bay had three piers the first had a music hall near the entrance to the current pier. The present pier was cut in two during violent storms in the 1970s leaving just the pier head that had once been the landing stage for paddles steamer ferries from London.
The Bay has been associated with several famous people including Amy Johnson whose statue is featured on the promenade opposite where her plane was lost in WWII. We learned that there had once been a windmill in the centre of the seafront and heard tales of woe including several fires!
The weather was beautiful which helped make a thoroughly enjoyable evening to be recommended to other branches. http://www.hbhrs.org
Next Meeting
Friday 11th August 2017 Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals' by John Vigar