Newsletter Berengrave LNR, where history & nature come together Issue 32 Nov 2014

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Chairman’s Letter

Well, another year has flown by and we are again looking forward to Christmas with its customary celebrations, so our next member’s meeting, on December 5th, will have that in mind. Mince pies and sausage rolls will be available in addition to the usual cake and biscuits. Feel free to bring a small contribution of your own festive fare for the benefit of all.

As suggested at the last committee meeting, a meeting was set up with Daniel Gooch from RCP (Riverside Country Park), Richard Lusted (FoB) and myself. This took place on 18th September and the outcome was a general agreement that FoB were powerless to actually do anything in the reserve as, due to the extensive flooding, the working conditions down there are currently impossible. Council workers and contractors under the direction of RCP are doing their best to keep things tidy and accessible. We also suggested that the war memorial plaque be fixed in a more secure position, as it had originally been fixed by Brian Baker (our first Chairman). Daniel said he would look into this and to see what could be done. However, as it had not yet fallen down, RCP would only monitor it on an ongoing basis as they had no time to spare to do the necessary work.

The men of the British Standard Cement Works named on the memorial plaque were honoured in the usual way on the 11th November by FoB members, with representatives of the Roof family (spelt Ruth on the plaque) in attendance.

In the last newsletter I suggested that if anyone wanted to see the model Fraser Miller has made of the wash mills, it could be seen at my house. So far only one person has asked to see it.

This brings me to a very serious matter regarding the future of FoB, and it requires the involvement of ALL FoB members.

Winding uWinding uWinding uWinding up FoB as a support group. p FoB as a support group. p FoB as a support group. p FoB as a support group.

Our original objectives were:

• Work with Medway Council, the site owners, to conserve and enhance the existing biodiversity

• Encourage public interest in, and legitimate use of, the site

• Promote the use of the site for educational and scientific purposes

• Research the history of the site, maintain and publish this historical information for public benefit

It is obvious that over the years our influence and support with the council has declined to zero. As a ‘Friends’ group, without the full support of the council we are powerless to do anything towards the above objectives. The only one we have been successful in is the last one.

With this in mind we need to know from the members just where FoB now stands in the community and what is the future to be.

As, I see it. The Nature reserve is almost impossible to walk round; trees are falling down on a regular basis, the boardwalks are rotting and could soon be closed under Health & Safety, seats and other items of ‘furniture’ are constantly being vandalised.

The membership needs to consider whether FoB should be wound up as a group and we disassociate ourselves from anything to do with the Nature Reserve and Medway Council. Under FoB’s constitution, our assets would have to be sold off and the money gifted to a suitable charity of the member’s choice.

Possibly, as a group of likeminded people we could still come together for meetings as a ‘nature appreciating group’ with talks and discussions on various members’ interests. So please try and attend the next member’s meeting to help find a solution to our future.

Eddy Newport Chairman

FoB

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Next Member’s Meeting

The next meeting will be at 7.00 pm on Friday 5th December, 2014 (doors open 6.45 pm) at the Methodist Church Hall, in Wakeley Road, Rainham.

One of our members is going to give a light hearted talk on 'The 'The 'The 'The Work of Magistrates’Work of Magistrates’Work of Magistrates’Work of Magistrates’ With the amount of anti-social behaviour and vandalism the Reserve has endured over the years this should be interesting. We stress it is a light hearted look with an interesting twist.

The usual refreshments, plus some seasonal fare, will be available after the talk, giving an opportunity to meet and chat with your fellow members. Guests are very welcome but, will be charged an entry fee of £2.

Notes of Committee Meeting 29th October, 2014.

The Chairman and Treasurer had a meeting with the Council which the Chairman has covered in his report.

Fraser Miller (Historian, FoB) is moving to Hoo and we will therefore lose his expert knowledge on the archaeological history of the site.

It was decided to offer the assets of FoB for sale as we have not been allowed to use them for the past few years and we do not envisage being able to for years to come. Details in the Newsletter.

The Secretary also informed the meeting that, due to failing eyesight, she would not be standing for re-election at the AGM

Pat Clare, Secretary, FoB

Armistice Day 2014

FoB held a Ceremony of Remembrance Tuesday 11th November to honour those men who worked in the British Standard Cement Works and gave their lives in World War 1. There was a good attendance and the wreath was laid by the granddaughter of Alfred Roof.

(Named on the plaque as ‘Ruth’) The plaque, which is hung in the visitors’ centre just outside the entrance to the café was rescued from the depths of the archives of Gravesham by a past Chairman and originally hung in the large room. The original ceremony of the unveiling of

the plaque, by the Mayors of Gravesham and Medway) was filmed and if anyone is interested Eddy Newport has a copy.

Why FoB has become ineffective

Organisations that provide grants do not normally provide grants to local councils. In the early 00’s the Government decided that by setting up ‘Friends Groups’ from local residents, these groups could apply for grants on behalf of their councils.

For instance, the Heritage Lottery Fund would not have given a grant to Medway Council to build the steps and boardwalks in Berengrave LNR. However, a Friends Group could ‘theoretically’ obtain the council’s permission to install the steps, etc., and then apply for a grant. If the grant was forthcoming they would then obtain quotes for the work, engage a contractor to carry out the work and pay that contractor directly from their funds.

This, essentially, is why in 2005 the council asked me to set up FoB from an ad-hoc group of people who had previously shown interest in the reserve.

In this case the application for a grant to install steps and boardwalks never went ahead because the process of setting up FoB and applying for the grant took too long, so the council used money from another source. However, FoB still went ahead with the grant application, but changed the requirements to the provision of ‘interpretation panels’ (notice boards), information brochures and the booklet which we distributed to local schools and libraries.

Grant providers are not stupid people. It did not take them long to realise that their rules on providing grants were being circumvented. The next grant application which FoB made was rejected on the grounds that FoB neither owned the land nor rented it. FoB was no longer capable of carrying out the main function for which we were set up. Our usefulness declined and council support for us waned.

FoB could have continued as a workforce to undertake simple maintenance tasks within the reserve, but council employees now looked upon us as a threat to their jobs and started placing obstacles in our way. This situation has deteriorated over the past few years and is now intolerable. Everything that FoB offers to do is blocked, normally by quoting locally raised Health & Safety regulations.

Regrettably, FoB can no longer function as was intended.

Brian Baker, Ex-Chairman, FoB

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History of Berengrave LNR

PART 4 Industrial (1901-1931) (Continued)

Until 1929 Rainham had been part of Milton Regis Rural District Council (now Swale District Council). With an increasing population Gillingham needed to expand, but being bounded to the north by the river Medway, to the south by the Darland Banks, to the west by the town of Chatham and to the east by the boundary with Milton Regis, it had nowhere to expand to. Gillingham Borough Council therefore negotiated with Milton Regis Rural District Council to take over that land between the existing eastern boundary of Gillingham and Otterham Quay Lane. This land included Rainham. When the land was transferred, Gillingham Council officials expressed concern that no parish council documents for Rainham were handed over. Despite requests for the historical documents being made to Milton Regis Rural District Council and, more recently, to Swale District Council, no records of any kind have ever been received. The most recent enquiry, in 2006 by the Friends of Berengrave, elicited the response that ‘no documentation exists for the Rainham area’. It is unfortunate, but a large amount of history for the area, including the chalk quarry and the cement works, seems to have been lost for ever

In 1928 the cement works was substantially modernised, but by this time the demand for cement was on the decline. The British Standard Cement Company was acquired by the Associated Portland Cement Company in 1930, but due to falling demand for cement and, possibly, as a result of the depression, the works was closed in 1931 and the site was abandoned

Although cement manufacturing ceased in 1931, chalk quarrying from the Rainham chalk pit continued, on a much reduced scale, until the late 1930’s or possibly the early 1940’s. This chalk went through the cement manufacturing process up to the point when it became ‘clinker’. It was then shipped by barge to other local cement works ‘up river’ for further processing From the ‘Chatham News’ 6th November, 1931

RAINHAM CEMENT WORKS

Mr. Maitland’s Efforts for Unemployed Men

Mr. Adam Maitland, M.P. for this Division, has interested himself during the last few days in attempting to help a number of men who a short

time ago were discharged from the British Standard Cement Works at Rainham.

Mr. Maitland found on enquiry that the British Standard Cement Company was in liquidation, and that the notices of discharge were given either by the Receiver or by the Liquidator of that Company. The business was subsequently purchased by the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers, and Mr. Maitland has interviewed several of their prominent officers. On Tuesday he had the pleasure of an interview with Mr. Davis, the Works Managing Director, who received most sympathetically Mr. Maitland’s representations.

Mr Maitland understands that for some time the British Standard Cement Factory was working on an uneconomic basis, and could not possibly continue in manufacture as they had been doing on a 50 per cent. capacity. It has been decided to increase the output at other works owned by the Associated Portland Cement Company. From further enquiries which Mr. Maitland made there appears a reasonable prospect of a larger number of men being required within the vicinity, and the Works Managing Director has kindly given instructions that wherever possible those experienced in the manufacturing process will be preferred for vacancies as they arise.

We are sure that all those who are interested will appreciate Mr. Maitland’s efforts.

The picture below is of Rainham Dock and the cement works. It was taken sometime late in 1929. The camera is facing south with the dock head on the left and open water to the river Medway on the right

The storage silos can be seen to the left of the picture, with the cooling tower in the middle distance. The furnaces are to the left of the chimney, on the other side of the silos A dock-side travelling steam crane can be seen middle right of the picture

The large barge berthed at the dock head is the ‘Gloria’. On the 29th December 1929, only a few

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weeks after this picture was taken, the ‘Gloria’ was running supplies of clay into the dock. The weather had been very rough for several days, but the craft collecting the mud from the river had still managed to keep working. The barges ‘Sphere’ and ‘Ella & Norman’ were being loaded in one of the mud holes near Kingsnorth, while the ‘Gloria’ and the barge ‘Haughty Belle’ were being loaded in another. The ‘Sphere’ followed by the ‘Ella & Norman’ were the first of the vessels to start the run back to Rainham Dock, but as it was nearing dusk, the light was fading and there was a fierce gale with thunder, lightning and hail, the skipper of the ‘Sphere’ decided to run for the shelter of Damhead Creek. As they were coming down the river they passed the ‘Gloria’ and ‘Haughty Belle’ coming out of Stoke Creek.

The foul weather kept the ‘Sphere’ locked in Damhead Creek for two days. When they managed to get under way again and reach Rainham Dock, they learned that the ‘Haughty Belle’ had run for Otterham Creek under just topsail and foresail, but the last they had seen of the ‘Gloria’ was just off the Bishops Spit buoy. She had capsized in a fierce squall in Kethole Reach with the loss of both crew. The body of the skipper, Captain Ransley, was recovered a few days later, but the mate’s was never found

Post Post Post Post ---- industrial (1931 industrial (1931 industrial (1931 industrial (1931 ---- 1984)1984)1984)1984)

Following the closure of the cement works, the area of the works itself and of the chalk quarry was left derelict. Nature, however, soon started to reclaim the area. It is known that as early as the late 1930’s, young boys were collecting tadpoles and newts from the pond in the centre of the quarry and vegetation had started to inhabit the area

The quarry served no useful purpose until the early 1940’s, when anecdotal information tells us that it was used by the Home Guard for training and exercises during World War II

During shooting practice, the targets were apparently set against the chalk face that runs along the southern edge of the quarry. There is a story that one Home Guard, firing a sub-machine gun for the first time, lost control of it and emptied the magazine over the top of the chalk face into the surrounding countryside!

Local residents used part of the pit for growing vegetables to supplement their meagre rations. It is also understood that they intended to use the quarry for protection in the event of air raids in the area

Following the Second World War nothing happened to the area other than an increase in its use as an area for recreation. Walking, dog walking and cycling were popular pastimes and, of course, tadpole and newt collecting

In November 1962, Gillingham Borough Council (now Medway Council) purchased the chalk quarry from the then owner, Lt. Col. Ian Gordon Gill C.B.E. M.C., of 22 Queen’s Gate Terrace, London SW7, for the sum of £10,700 with the intention of using it as a council rubbish dump. (Now euphemistically referred to as ‘land fill’). Luckily, it was never used for this purpose

The 1960’s were the height of the ‘Cold War’, a period of tension between the western countries (NATO) and the Soviet Block (Russia and her Warsaw Pact allies) when the threat of nuclear war was very real. The chalk quarry served one small service at this time. The old railway lines were removed by some local residents to strengthen the roofs of their home-made nuclear fall-out shelters. One such resident informed me that this involved driving his car down into the quarry, cutting the railway lines into suitable lengths by hand, using just a hacksaw, and loading them onto the car before driving out again

A survey of flora and fauna in the chalk quarry, undertaken by the Kent Wildlife Trust in 1974, discovered the presence of orchids and round-leaved wintergreen, a locally rare plant. They recommended to Gillingham Borough Council that, in order to protect these rare species and to preserve the area for wildlife and the benefit of the public, the quarry should be registered as a nature reserve

Brian Baker, Website Manager, FoB ©Friends of Berengrave 2008

Photo courtesy of ‘Civil Defenders’