Major changes again to the Trailwalker team with only four weeks to go! Vi Pieterson has stepped in to join the walking team. Vi is one of our Heritage Consultants based in Salisbury and like most of the rest of us is ideally placed to undertake this daunting challenge – having spent most of her life behind a desk! And joining our support team is Rob De’Athe a Project Manager from our London & South East Office. 

 

Hopefully this will be the final line-up as its getting really close now! With only four weeks to go it would be fair to say it’s time to get serious! I still haven’t achieved a walk of even half the distance (although ‘even half the distance’ is still 31 miles!). This week, as a radical change, I have decided to try walking poles, which amongst other things (according to someone on you tube) are useful for fending off bears. I am sure you will agree they are essential kit for an event on the South Downs.

 

Andy Crockett and Chris Brayne have taken training for the support team to heart and are getting exceptionally good at driving to a shop and buying cakes.

 

We are getting closer to our target of £1500 but all money collected goes to an excellent cause so please do consider donating.

 

 

 

Wessex Archaeology (WA) has been supporting the Jon Egging Trust’s (JET) Blue Skies Programme once again this year, providing exciting learning experiences to inspire young people to achieve their full potential.

 

Level one students kicked off their archaeological education with an interactive tour of the WA head office in Salisbury. The day started with an introduction to archaeology and an impressive whiz through the last 900,000 years by Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy, one of our Osteoarchaeologists. The young people then split into groups to explore our environmental archaeology department and artefact processing lab as specialists gave talks and demonstrations on sample sieving, fieldwork, human skeletal remains and coastal & marine archaeology. The highlight of the day was getting hands on with flint tools and learning how to use them under the tuition of Phil Harding. 

 

The following week, the level one students put their knowledge into practice on a visit to Chisenbury Midden, a mound of Iron Age feasting waste on Salisbury Plain, organised by WA and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). Working in groups, the young people had a chance to try excavation techniques and archaeological recording processes. Finds included animal bones, examples of worked and burnt flint, and several pieces of Iron Age pottery. Students were then able to wash their own artefacts and compare them to previous finds from the site. 

 

Students taking part in level two of the Blue Skies Programme took part in a geophysical survey day on Salisbury Plain, organised by WA and DIO and supported by members of Operation Nightingale. The day was themed on WWI and focused on using geophysical survey techniques to reveal information about a complex system of WWI practice trenches, designed to be a replica of the German trench system at the Somme. The young people were trained to use geophysical survey equipment and took part in both magnetometry and resistivity surveys, led by experts from WA and Winchester University. Other activities included comparing rations and kit from WWI to modern equivalents, hearing a soldier’s perspective of frontline warfare, and exploring the extant remains of the practice trenches nearby.

 

The students will celebrate the achievements they have made through the Blue Skies Programme at a presentation ceremony in June, and we look forward to congratulating them then. 

 

 

The dreadful events in Nepal have provided a shocking reminder as to why we’re doing the Trailwalker Challenge.

 

Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust are working in Nepal in the aftermath of the worst earthquake to affect the country in 80 years. Oxfam are already digging latrines and delivering water. The Gurkha Welfare Trust are making their facilities and resources available to help with the relief effort. 

 

 

The next few days will be critical to help those most in need. Clean water, emergency food support, shelter and hygiene kits will be needed if we are to save lives in the wake of this disaster. 

 

Anything at all you can give would be very gratefully received  

 

 

We promise that more light-hearted blogs will be back soon, including updates on our varied (and occasionally disastrous) training regimes!

 

Best wishes, 

 

The Wessex Trailwalker Team 

 

PS. Learn more about Oxfam's response here.

 

 

I am part of a team from Wessex Archaeology undertaking a daunting endurance event – Trailwalker 2015 – raising money for the Gurkha Trust and Oxfam. The challenge involves walking 100km in 30 hours across the South Downs from Waterlooville in Hampshire to Brighton in East Sussex. 

 

Thankfully, personal trainer Kent Jones has agreed to try and get me prepared for the event and as an incentive we are visiting Heritage sites on our long walks and we propose to blog about these journeys each week.

 

Our first walk was a 15 mile local walk taking some of the Medway Megaliths. These monuments are thought to be the remains of Neolithic Chambered Tombs clustered mostly north of Aylesford in the Medway Valley; one of the largest clusters of such monuments in Southern England outside Wiltshire.

 

 

 

 

 

For information on some recent research and results of exciting fieldwork by Paul Garwood of Birmingham University come along to the conference organised by staff at Wessex Archaeology on the 12 September 2015 where Paul will be speaking along with a number of other speakers. Follow this Link.

 

And finally, a reminder to all even experienced hikers such as Kent Jones make the mistake of not wearing appropriate footwear!

 

 

 

 

On Friday, Euan McNeill of Coastal & Marine delivered a belated Christmas present to Patch Harvey, Coxswain of the Penlee Lifeboat at RNLI Penlee Lifeboat Station, Newlyn, Cornwall. 

 

 

This £70 donation was created from money saved through sending e-cards instead of traditional Christmas cards to friends and clients in 2014.

 

As a team that has been working offshore for over 25 years, Wessex Archaeology Coastal & Marine know all too well the risks of the sea, and put considerable resources into avoiding them through training and support for our dive and geophysical survey teams. 

 

Euan says, ‘The RNLI crews, all of whom are volunteers, risk their lives every time they go out to sea to assist those in danger. We are eternally grateful to them for that courage and altruism. As they say, they are ordinary people, doing extraordinary things, and we hope this donation goes some small way to allow them to continue the incredible work that they do.  We have worked in the area covered by the Penlee Lifeboat crew and are pleased to support the efforts they are making to improve their Newlyn facilities.’

 

 

See if you can spot Rudolph on last year’s Christmas card (YouTube Link), which put a festive bent on one of the Neolithic houses excavated by our team at Kingsmead Quarry, Horton.

 

 

A team from Wessex Archaeology has entered the Trailwalker 2015 to raise money for Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.  

 

From our South Office David Norcott, Patrick Dresch, and Susan Clelland have signed up to walk 100 km of the South Downs Way in one continuous no-sleep push over 30 hours, setting off early on Saturday 25 July and not stopping until the afternoon of Sunday 26. 

 

Sad news from our London & South East Office is that event organiser Kent Jones has suffered an injury preventing him from taking part. All is not lost though as Mark Williams has agreed to step in and Kent Jones has agreed to take on the daunting task of getting Mark into shape for the event!

 

Please consider sponsoring us in this gruelling challenge! 

 

This Christmas, Wessex Archaeology continued its now annual practice of sending Christmas e-cards to our friends, partners and clients in place of traditional paper cards. This enabled us to donate the money saved to seven charities nominated by our different departments and regional offices. The charities selected were the RNLI, Mind, Salisbury Hospice, Bristol & Wales Cat Rescue, Shelter Cymru, Scottish Fisherman’s Trust and Kent Search & Rescue. 

 

We are delighted to be able to support these worthy organisations that operate in our local communities, and we are confident that our donations will be put to good use. 

 

Rachel Turnbull, Fundraising Officer for Salisbury Hospice Charity said:

“Salisbury Hospice Charity is hugely grateful to everyone at Wessex Archaeology for their generous donation. We need to raise over £1.5 million every year to ensure that the Hospice’s essential services can continue. This is only made possible by the sustained support and generous donations we receive from people like you, all of which are vital to our funds. Money donated locally is spent locally with the aim of improving the quality of life of our patients and their families and friends.”

 

 

 

This year the staff at the Salisbury head office are entering into the Christmas spirit by bidding on the lovely Christmas tree that stands in the reception hall. The bidding (for staff only) currently stands at £12.00 – seems like a bargain to me!

 

We are also selling raffle tickets – at a rate of knots! – for all the corporate gifts, including spirits, wines, biscuits and other festive goodies, that have been kindly given to us. 

 

All the proceeds will go to The Trussell Trust, a local charity working to combat poverty and social exclusion. We would love to beat last year’s total of £145, and we are hoping that everyone will dig deep.

 

 

Our Southern Regional Manager, Andy Crockett braved the ‘ice bucket challenge’ at lunchtime today to raise money for charity. 

 

Andy faced 10 buckets of icy water thrown by 10 lucky members of staff and managed to keep a cool head throughout! He was nominated by our Regional Manager for Wales, Nick Cooke who had already taken the plunge himself. Both Andy and Nick, and the thousands of others who have completed the ‘ice bucket challenge’ have done so in support of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. 

 

 

You can support the appeal by texting ICED55 to 70070 to donate £5. You can also follow the challenge on Twitter by following @mndassoc or tweeting #IceBucketChallenge. 

 

Olly Good takes up the challenge here

Andy Norton takes up the challenge here

 

...no word from Dan Atkinson yet!

 

This week, Wessex Archaeology presented a £100 cheque to Carer Support Wiltshire to fund their excellent work with local carers. 

 

Last Christmas, for the second year in a row, WA sent a Christmas e-card to our friends and colleagues in place of traditional paper cards. This enabled us to donate the money saved to four charities nominated by our regional offices. 

 

The Salisbury office chose to donate to Carer Support Wiltshire, an independent charity established to provide support to carers living in Wiltshire. The £100 cheque was delivered this week by Laura Joyner, our Community & Education Officer and was gladly received by Senior Support Worker, Diana James who said “thank you to everyone at Wessex Archaeology for thinking of us. This money will go towards funding our Carers Cafe in Salisbury and our counselling service. Both of which provide carers with the opportunity to meet and talk about their caring duties and get tips and advice on how to cope and manage in that caring role. Thank you!”