Decided I would take half a day off work to visit my favourite dig site. That and an opportunity to see in the flesh the delectable Dan Snow. National Treasures Live had come to Stratford. And Will's back.
The film crew had already set up and there was wires and equipment and bodies all over the place.
Tasked with cleaning up the stepped section in the front garden with 2 other ladies. The soil is so dry and crumbly, it was a nightmare but we got it done and then we started cleaning up the Haliwell brick structures. Just to make everything look nice for the camera.
Then suddenly we were inundated with all the guides from the house who came down to have their photo taken as a group. We weren't very impressed when we were told to make way for the diggers!!.....and we are.....!!!!! Obviously volunteers don't score very highly on the digger's scale. Miffed wasn the word!.
Anyway, it was interesting to meet Sian and Dan. They appear to be friendly, approachable people and Sian even had a bit of a banter with some of the volunteers.
There were several rehearals throughout the day and the umbrellas were in constant use. Yes it rained and we all got very wet...twice.
There was a lot of hanging around and doing nothing, because the film crew kept moving us out of shot etc. But they were very polite to joe public.
Chloe grabbed a couple of us and said that there were some t-shirts with "Dig for Shakespeare" on that she wanted us to wear. However this didn't go down well with the rest of the volunteers because the t-shirts were something we wanted since last year. Even if we had to put something towards them. I think there will be a few emails flying around.
Finally Will had a couple of minutes away from his newly found star status (yes he's on camera) to start alloting jobs for the actual live run. Myself and Colin were tasked with "pretending" to do a section drawing in the "Brew House". We actually got it done as well. Well it saved hanging around for hours with nothing to do.
All to soon the programme had finished, and I think I became Dan's oldest groupie that day, by asking him to sign my site diary which he did graciously.
When I watched the programme later that night I realised that my dig bag got 2 seconds of fame and that I was just a little dot in the background clutching our finished plan in the final few minutes of the show. Oh well, it was in interesting experience.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Catch-up August
A very hectic August at work meant no time to update blog!!! But here's the story so far:
Will and Emily had a baby boy called Arthur, little brother to Freyja. Congratulations to you all.
SBT (or at least a gardener) went down the well. Strangely enough only last Sunday somebody was asking me if there were any plans to go down the well, and a week later it happens. Apart from the usual coinage, there were a few other interesting items: pair of matching earrings, smartie tops (you remember...the plastic ones with the letters on them), marbles, small plastic toy figures, a conker with a pin in it(!), a 1950's flashlight (very interesting. It still had the liquid in), a 1966 world cup ornament, a couple of pencils, a pen knib (of the dipping variety and circa 1917's) and other assorted rubbish!
Found this whilst washing finds.
the girls sieving......
...and Gem
David finds marking
Me!!!
A much needed ice-cream after a long, hot, hard day!
Will and Emily had a baby boy called Arthur, little brother to Freyja. Congratulations to you all.
SBT (or at least a gardener) went down the well. Strangely enough only last Sunday somebody was asking me if there were any plans to go down the well, and a week later it happens. Apart from the usual coinage, there were a few other interesting items: pair of matching earrings, smartie tops (you remember...the plastic ones with the letters on them), marbles, small plastic toy figures, a conker with a pin in it(!), a 1950's flashlight (very interesting. It still had the liquid in), a 1966 world cup ornament, a couple of pencils, a pen knib (of the dipping variety and circa 1917's) and other assorted rubbish!
Found this whilst washing finds.
the girls sieving......
...and Gem
David finds marking
Me!!!
A much needed ice-cream after a long, hot, hard day!
Day 1 of 4 day stint
As I enjoyed it so much last year, I decided to do another 4 day stint at New Place. After dragging the caravan to the Riverside Caravan park in Tiddington and enjoying the evening in Connolly's Deli Tapas bar, I was well set up for an early start Saturday. And did I earn my bottle (or two) of coronona that night....in fact every night for the next 4 days!!!!!
So what delights did the 4 days hold for me.Well there was the rain Saturday morning and the chance to meet some of the Saturday diggers in rather soggy circumstances in the sieving tent, where we sorted finds, washed them and marked them. I washed but also took the opportunity to catch up with Mat from last year's 4 day stint which was nice. The afternoon turned sunny and Gem and I did a bit of gardening and cleaning at the front of the house garden to prepare for photos...that never happened, but that's another story. We then weightd the brick, tile and stone from 4003, and there was a lot of that as my arms will attest to on the Sunday and Monday. Boy did they ache!!!! I finished the day in the sieving tent where I had a heck of a busy afternoon and after 9 people had cleared me out of all the soil, another 20 came in (students) looking to do some sieving!! No chance, so I had to turn them away. Honestly the place looked like a bomb had hit it! There was soil everywhere, but fortunately with everyone's help, it didn't take too long to clear up.
The expectant father
So what delights did the 4 days hold for me.Well there was the rain Saturday morning and the chance to meet some of the Saturday diggers in rather soggy circumstances in the sieving tent, where we sorted finds, washed them and marked them. I washed but also took the opportunity to catch up with Mat from last year's 4 day stint which was nice. The afternoon turned sunny and Gem and I did a bit of gardening and cleaning at the front of the house garden to prepare for photos...that never happened, but that's another story. We then weightd the brick, tile and stone from 4003, and there was a lot of that as my arms will attest to on the Sunday and Monday. Boy did they ache!!!! I finished the day in the sieving tent where I had a heck of a busy afternoon and after 9 people had cleared me out of all the soil, another 20 came in (students) looking to do some sieving!! No chance, so I had to turn them away. Honestly the place looked like a bomb had hit it! There was soil everywhere, but fortunately with everyone's help, it didn't take too long to clear up.
The expectant father
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
