Sponsoring TEDx Bath Inter-Connected Event

We’re proud to be sponsoring and attending this year's TEDxBath Inter-Connected event – a two-day event of inspiring ideas, talks, activities and connections in Bath.  

 

What is TEDxBath? 

TEDxBath is part of the international TED organisation. TEDxBath aims to share ideas and issues that relate to the city of Bath and it’s community – they welcome anyone who is interested and passionate about Bath and its community, both now and in the future.  

TEDxBath screen set up

Why are Wessex Archaeology working with TEDxBath? 

Giles Woodhouse, our Chief Strategy Officer, said:  

"We’ve been working in and around Bath for over 40 years, most recently on the Bath Abbey Footprint Project, bringing alive the story of one of Bath’s most important historic buildings. This project allowed us to develop and showcase some of our state-of-the-art digital interpretation techniques, with the aim of connecting people with the past and each other. It was a natural fit to become involved in and support TEDxBath’s Inter-connected themed event this year, and we’re excited to see the broad range of innovations and ideas that are brought to the table."

List of speakers at TEDxBath 2021

What to expect from this year’s TEDxBath event? 

This year’s TEDxBath event is taking place on 18th & 19th November 2021 with a theme of Inter-Connected. “Our lives are inter-connected like never before, language barriers are breaking down, travel is faster and many cultural traditions are being shared. TEDxBath aims to seek, explore and share powerful ideas that have the potential to inspire positive change, both locally and globally.” – TEDxBath  

TEDxBath 2021 speaker

What does inter-connected mean to Wessex Archaeology?  


Chris Brayne, our Chief Executive, said: 


"For Wessex Archaeology, ‘Inter-connected’ is an important concept. As we come out the other side of the pandemic, we celebrate our inter-connectedness as something that kept us going through such a tough period and recognise how integral it is to our wellbeing. As humans, we crave the company of our friends and family, and we search for links that bring meaning and connect us through life. The benefits of heritage towards achieving this are vast and we have seen this first-hand; throughout multiple lockdowns we’ve used heritage as a way of bringing people together digitally to reflect, connect and share their experiences. The past is the story of people: our resilience and tenacity in the face of challenges. While nothing can replace a hug, connecting people using our shared heritage has offered meaning and warmth to those going through particularly difficult times."

TEDxBath speaker

Find out more on TEDxBath's website here.

Season's Greetings 2018

Season’s Greetings from Wessex Archaeology. This year’s animation has been designed by our illustrator based in the Bristol office, Jennie Anderson. The animation shows a reconstruction of a Saxon winter's feast, we hope you enjoy it.

 

With sustainability at the core of our company ethos, instead of sending traditional Christmas cards we send e-cards, and our six regional offices will be making donations to the following charities:

Season's Greetings - Charities Wessex Archaeology has donated to this Christmas

Ready for the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge

A team from Wessex Archaeology London & South East are taking part in the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge on Thursday 20th September 2018. Mark Williams, Guilermo Santamaria and Alin Fuior will brave the wilds of the north to take on the peaks of Whernside (736 m), Ingleborough (724 m), and Pen-Y-Ghent (694 m).

At a deceptively reasonable 39 kilometers there is also a total climb of 1585 m to take into account, making this a daunting challenge.

We are undertaking this challenge to raise money for LandAid, a charity which finds accommodation for young people facing homelessness, so please consider donating to this worthy cause by following this link.

By Mark Williams, Regional Manager London & South East

Staff member risks life and limb!

This weekend a staff member from Wessex Archaeology London & South East will put his life at risk raising money for an important local heritage project proving that Wessex Archaeology will go that extra mile to protect the nation’s heritage. 


Kent Jones will take part in a sponsored abseil down at Maidstone All Saints Church in aid of the restoration fund. It was last minute as senior managers at WA had to arrange key employee insurance in time for the event!


See next week for how the abseil went and whether Kent Survived!
 

Teddy bear abseil flyer

World Heritage Day

World Heritage Day is coming up in April 2018, and there are a host of activities going on in and around The Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site. Wessex Archaeology aren’t involved directly, but we are helping to sponsor the event, and Phil Harding is giving a talk at Stonehenge.

A pdf of the leaflet (designed by the WA Graphics Office) can be downloaded below, have a look through it to see what is going on in the area.

By Rob Goller, Senior Illustrator

Downloads

World Heritage Day leaflet

Taking on the Thames for the AHOY Centre

 
During Wednesday evening a team from Wessex Archaeology which consisted of Mark Williams, Dave Norcott, Becky Hall, Paolo Croce and Will Santamaria completed the Meridian Pull Challenge. The Meridian Pull Challenge is a 8.5 mile rowing challenge set on the river Thames and organised by the Thames Estuary Partnership as a way to raise funds for the AHOY Centre.
 
The AHOY centre works with disadvantaged children and young people and those with disabilities; running courses and training programmes to help them gain qualifications and life skills needed for employment.
 
 
If you can’t see the video above please follow this link.
 
The challenge was no mean feat, 8.5 miles rowing along a choppy Thames is hard enough for experienced rowers but our team consisted of five people who had hardly any prior experience of rowing! However, they excelled as a team completing the challenge in an incredible 54 minutes 46 seconds and came second out of the five competing teams! 
 
We would like to thank everyone who has sponsored us and thank our corporate sponsors Thomson Ecology, Microserve Ltd, SUERC (the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre), and Ready Power for their generous donations. If you haven’t donated, you still can via
 
 
Also, thank you to the staff at the AHOY Centre for all the help and support given and a special mention to Kerry our cox who did a fantastic job of keeping the team in order. There was great support for all the rowing teams which created a wonderful atmosphere; we were particularly pleased to have our Trustee Parvis Jamieson turn up to congratulate our team as they ended the challenge.
 
 
 

The Meridian Pull Rowing Challenge

 
Today is the day that Wessex Archaeology take part in the Meridian Pull rowing challenge, organised by the Thames Estuary Partnership, and raising funds for the AHOY Centre in Deptford. The AHOY Centre run courses and training programmes to help disadvantaged children, young vulnerable people and those with disabilities gain qualifications and essential life skills needed for employment.
 
Our team, comprising Dave Norcott, Mark Williams, Paul Baggaley, Becky Hall, Paolo Croce and Guillermo Santamaria, are heading off for London this afternoon, where they will be rowing along the Thames from Battersea to the AHOY Centre, a distance of about 8.5 miles. The challenge starts at 18:45, and our support team will be on hand to record progress throughout the race, so do stay tuned via our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
 
Thanks to many generous donations already received, including our corporate sponsors SUERC (the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre), Readypower Engineering Ltd, Thomson Ecology and Microserve Ltd, we are closing in on our target of £1800. However, every penny counts, so if you can please consider sponsoring us via the link below.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Jon Egging Trust Students Visit the Salisbury Office

In May, we were pleased to welcome back the Jon Egging Trust to our Salisbury office, with a new group of students (12–13 years old) on the first year of their Blue Skies Programme. The programme aims to inspire young people to reach their full potential by engaging in exciting activities and experiences. 
 
Although some of the students thought that archaeology would be a bit dull, our enthusiastic staff opened their eyes to the diverse and interesting nature of our work. All of them participated fully in the sessions and thoroughly enjoyed the day. 
 
Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy set the scene by explaining what archaeology is – both how we do it and why we do it. Later in the day she also provided the students with a fascinating insight into what we can find out from the study of human remains.
 
The theme for the first year of the Blue Skies Programme is ‘teamwork’, a key element of Wessex Archaeology’s working practices that was highlighted throughout the day, and manager Si Cleggett held an inspiring session based solely around the issue. Activities were designed to get the students to work together, demonstrating their collaborative skills and assessing how each member contributed to the group. A lot of productive discussion and team-bonding ensued.
 
Vicki Lambert and Tom Harrison of the Coastal & Marine department devised a fascinating activity where the students learned about underwater archaeology, and completed a dive simulation exercise that demonstrated how vital working together is when diving. 
The students relished the opportunity to get wet and muddy washing soil samples in our Environmental department, under instruction from Tony Scothern. While showing examples of materials recovered from samples, Tony explained how the Environmental department, and the evidence they find, contributes towards our archaeological projects.  
Finds team members Sue Nelson and Erica Macey-Bracken provided a finds-handling session featuring artefacts of different materials and dates. They encouraged discussions about how different people may have contributed towards making an artefact, and how they would have worked as a team using the objects to achieve a common goal. 
Any initial doubts about archaeology soon disappeared, and by the end of the day Phil Harding’s flint knapping demonstration earned him, and Time Team, a new generation of fans. He even let them have a go at using a flint axe to sharpen wooden stakes. The experience was met with such enthusiasm that people felt the need for Phil to sign their shirts!
We would like to thank Jon Egging Trust Youth Liaison Officer, Kaye Jackson, the staff from St Aldhelm’s Academy, and Drew Tallentire from the Southampton University Air Squadron for supporting the visit. As always, it is a pleasure to be able to contribute towards such a fantastic programme.