Issue 74 of Keer to Kent was edited by Sheila May, with assistance from Barry Ayre, Colin Patrick and Jill Smith. It was the first edition of the year in which the Landscape Trust celebrated its 25th anniversary and so looked forward to an adventurous programme of events to mark the occasion, planned by a burgeoning events committee under the leadership of Peter Standing, as well as calling for contributions and recollections to be included in a special anniversary issue to be published in the Autumn/Winter edition later in the year.  The previous December had been the coldest since records began (a record still held by December 2010) with some spectacular winter scenes across the AONB; the occurrence was celebrated (if that’s the right word) with a gallery of scenes from around the area as the closing item.

Issue 74 featured full length articles on subjects as diverse as Milnthorpe as a port, owls in the AONB, poisonous plants and gardening for butterflies, as well as the usual round-up of reports from partnership organisations across the AONB.  In addition to the full contents listed below, it featured a view diagram by Richard Daly, and photographs by Iris Glimmerveen, Sheelagh Hughes Hallett, Ann Kitchen, Mike Malpass, Tony Riden, and Jim Asher and Peter Eeles, courtesy of Butterfly Conservation.  The cover image was by Richard Daly. Ann Kitchen provided technical advice; the journal was printed by PageFast Ltd, Lancaster.