UPDATE:
6th November 2009;
Hello
Team!
Well,
what a brilliant job you have all done this year and there is now a
'running' total of 28 burials of which you should be
justly proud.
Following
consultations with the on-site 'management', it seems sensible to
note both the speedy deterioration of the weather and the need
to maintain your enthusiasm/energies for 2010! I am
therefore suggesting that the last day of excavating be on
Saturday 7th November.
Heidi
is off to University for 5 weeks and I think it is time for you all
to take a well earned break for the winter. I am now feeling
so much better and am so much looking forward to the New Year with
teams anxious to dig on Saturdays AND during the week!
In
the mean time keep smiling, reflect very positively upon what you
have achieved this year and I will be in touch nearer to
Christmas.
At
the AGM I became aware of the fact that a number of people
were unable to open the attachment I sent with the last email - the
Action Plan for 2009! For ease of reference, the plan is repeated
below in the 'Next Season' section.
When
we start again in 2010 the Saturday morning 'Diggers
Weather Line' and for any other Tollesbury related queries please
contact Mike or Brian (see
below).
Updates
will continue to be posted on this web site.
Next
Season
The
start date for the new season at Carrington Farm has had to be
pushed back from the 28th March 2009 to the 18th April 2009, at
09:30 am.
Mike
checked the weather predictions for the end of March with the Met
Office and they said 'you've got to be joking' - or words to that
effect! Wet and very changeable weather is predicted for that
weekend. So thought Mike, we'll start the following weekend, only to
be severely berated by all MAHG members in the vicinity - 'Don't you
realise that's the Easter Weekend!' was heard to emerge from the
throng.
So,
smarting from the undeserved clamour, Mike conceded that it would
have to be the weekend after that! Weather permitting.
We will
begin with the usual 'Weeding Session' followed by some
machine excavation on the 25th April 2009; that's if we can't get
Stuart into the digger on the 18th! Then we can get 'stuck
in'!
ACTION
PLAN: MAHG
Fieldwork Team: Carrington Farm, Tollesbury - 2009
AIM
1: To ascertain the boundaries and time plan of the burials
contained within the South Field.
PROCESS:
To top-scrape the area designated as "1" on the plan
and to then hoe and trowel by hand to expose any features.
AIM 2: To determine the age and purpose of the features
numbered CFS9 and CFS6 and to discover any links.
PROCESS:
To cut trial trenches at trench 'N' and 'J'.
This
plan was assembled at a meeting held on January 13th between Mike,
Derek, Ed and Brian.
In
general, the
focus for 2009 will be a return to the South (cremations) Field
and we will endeavour to 'top scrape' a large, square area in
order to attempt to make some sense of the pattern of the cremations
and try to answer the question:
"What exactly IS in this
area?"
The size of the area we can affect will, of
course, be dependant upon DEFRA and Graham Williams, the farm
manager. We are hoping for a square of around 20 metres to
begin with.
It has also been suggested that MAHG
produces a 'Beginners Digging Guide' - a brilliant idea, but should
this be for existing scratchers, new recruits or both?
Suggestions (on a postage stamp) to Mike Rees, please! In the
mean time, Brian still needs your "insulated against the
permafrost" support and muscle!
The
site will be open every Saturday after the from & including the
28th March 2009 (09:30 am until about 5:00
pm).
Diggers
Help Line: For
further information or to check if site will be open (before 09:00
on the day) contact Mike Rees on 01621 854974 or Brian Riley on 01621 810497.
Latecomers
welcome!! Note, coffee break is at 11:00 am!
TOP
MAHG
