When public tours of Chatham Historic Dockyard started half a century ago, just one person accompanied the guide.

Today, hundreds flock to the Medway site to be given a first-hand insight into what has become of the nation's most popular visitor attractions.

To celebrate its 50 years, the dockyard trust is looking for those who went on tours from 1970 to 1984 to share their experiences.

The dockyard will then share these stories on its website and social media to celebrate the anniversary on Friday, April 3.

The original monthly newspaper, Periscope, states the tours began at Pembroke Gate, now the site of the University of Kent. There were three tours of ‘the Yard’ each day, lasting 55 minutes in length and timed to meet public alighting off buses.

Despite a slow start, with only one visitor on the first tour, 100 or more visitors were accompanied around ‘the Yard’ each day. By August 1970, the 1,000th visitor was welcomed and presented with a framed certificate.

When the tours began in 1970, the original Dockyard site was more than 300 acres. It covered not only the current site of the historic dockyard but also what is now known as Dockside Outlet Centre and St Mary’s Island.

Since the closure of the Dockyard in 1984, the trust has been responsible for the preservation of 80 acres of the original site and more than 180,000 members of the public enjoy access to the site and its collections annually.

The Call the Midwife television series was filmed at the venue and tours of the set transformed into the streets of east London experiencing a baby boom have proved a winner.

Richard Holdsworth, director of heritage, public engagement and learning at Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, said: “It is extremely important to capture oral history from first-hand experiences so we can preserve this history for future generations.

"This is a great opportunity for us to speak to and collate history from people who partook in an original tour.”

If you took a tour between 1970-1984, please get in touch with the Historic Dockyard’s collection team with a paragraph about your memories of the tour. Email info@chdt.org.uk

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