As we reach the end of the Project Florence road show Angus Forshaw, Community Archaeologist, describes our visit to Tedworth House for our blog readers:
The penultimate stop of our road show exhibition saw Laura, Steve and I visiting Tedworth House. Being one of four recovery centres run by Help for Heroes, Tedworth House is open to both serving and veteran members of the Armed Services who have suffered life changing injuries or illness whilst in service. It provides support through key parts of the recovery process, providing holistic care to our wounded service personnel.
After joining the residents for a cooked breakfast and a swift tour of the building we set up our stand ready to spread the word about Operation Nightingale and the excavations at Barrow Clump. It was great to see significant interest from the current residents, who may get the opportunity to get involved in this summer’s excavation on site. There was also a large amount of interest from staff, many of whom have seen the success of the project first-hand through working with soldiers who have already been involved.
Following a morning of show-casing our posters, DVD and Saxon replicas we were treated to a go on the Skiplex, an indoor ski simulator replicating a real piste built specifically to aid the recovery process. This proved incredibly entertaining and rewarding, with Laura and Steve falling over proving to be a personal highlight!
The day was a resounding success. It was great to see the benefits that the facilities at Tedworth House provide to injured members of the armed forces, as well as to receive so much interest in the Barrow Clump excavations and Operation Nightingale. We would like to thank everyone at Tedworth House for allowing us to set up our exhibition there for the day along with testing out some of the facilities first-hand, we all had a great day!
For more information on Tedworth House and the brilliant work that they do visit the Help for Heroes website by clicking here.
To return to the main Project Florence blog click here.