The internet can be a lonely place. It's lonely if you just surf and look around and it could be lonely just writing pages to publish.

Oystertown isn't like that. The way it works is that you gain information from it. Having aquired this information you then add it to what you know already and let us know. We can then publish what you know and this in turn helps others.

The easiest way to explain this philosophy is with the Oyster Gedcom. This growing database is the constantly accumulating knowledge sent in by individual family history researchers that is linking the past to the present in terms of ancestors, descendants and links between the old Whitstable families. If you are researching your own line in Whitstable this information is invaluable. By sending in your own findings and family links these, when added, will benefit others who can then provide you with data at the other end of your links. The Oystertown Family History Forum is another example. Here you will find people from all over the world communicating with data from common family lines, yours could be among them.

It doesn't stop there. The Oystertown Whitstable Memories Forum is collecting more recent data from living memory. If you live, or lived, in Whitstable, Tankerton, Swalecliffe, Seasalter or Chestfield this is the place when you can share your memories with others. This forum is not really altruism on our part for the memories collected will be turned into pages on the site. These will eventually become part of the heritage of the town. Oystertown is about more than just finding ancestors. It is intent on recording everything from the past that will otherwise be lost in the annals of time.

We believe that every child as they grow should develop a sense of pride and belonging to their community. The best way to foster this is to encourage them to learn about their town and its history, why it developed, and who were the instigators for change. Our schools pages hope to encourage this and give ideas for teachers setting projects for their pupils in the locality. Naturally we hope to share the results of these projects and will publish some of the work on this site.

Throughout Oystertown.net you will find many cross references from people to places to events. You cannot separate the three because they all influence each other. You may have associations with a church, a building, an old local company or anything that has historic links in the town. We would take great pleasure in publishing the written history of such a place and by sending this in you can add to the available information about the town's heritage.

It could even be as simple as looking up the deeds of your house and telling us who built it, what was its address then, and what it is now. This sort of information is a bonus for someone looking for the birthplace of their ancestor as many roads have changed their names in the last 70 years.

There must be many pre Douglas West pictures of the town, or people, that are hidden away in the loft or Granny's album. What will happen to these? Will they eventually go into the bin? Why not let us copy them for the site, where they will be appreciated by thousands, and honour the memory of those townspeople.

You might even like to become a contributor to the site. There are many areas where we would welcome assistance and would provide you with a ready made audience for your work. This may be in covering local events, or a regular column with balanced viewpoints on changes in the town today. You might have an interest in local history and would like the opportunity to share your knowledge but need the incentive to publish in this format without having to learn all of the web building skills. Oystertown can do it for you whilst still giving you the accreditation. You never know, it could start you off onto greater things.

It should be stated at this point that Oystertown.net does not charge anybody for any information. The other side of the coin is therefore obvious - we do not pay anybody for any information. We just put it here, in this format, so that it can be shared by everyone.

Oystertown Family History Forum.	Help and be helped in finding those ancestors from the town.
Archived Oystertown Message Board.	Now superseded but it's still full of useful posts.
Whitstable Memories Forum.	Read others memories or post your own. Indulge in a little nostalgia!
Oystertown Newsletter.	A weekly update of what's happening in the town and new on the site.
Schools Support.	How can we help you? A new section coming soon.
Email us.	Drop us a line about anything related to the site or the topics it covers.