DetectingWales.com

The day started bright and early as Mark, Johnny LoveToken and I travelled to Hereford. On the way we had a call to say that there was a picket line outside the farm - thankfully that was just a joke, but it amused us all the same.

This was a new farm for DW, but we knew it was in a promising area and it didn't fail to please on the finds front.

Around 90 DW members turned out for the day including 4 members who along with MC Hammered had travelled all the way down from Scotland. Apart from the detectorists we also had 3 FLO's on site, who were kept busy recording the days finds and handing out cakes, made courtesy of Nomads good lady - Shelly! They were lovely and certainly filled a hole - Thank You very much.

We started the introduction speech with a very apt and loud "minute of applause" in memory of long standing DW member Farmer Phil who sadly recently passed away. A collection for Phil's family was also made by Pipster and I understand towards the end it was close to £300. Well done Pip on doing a sterling job.

After the overview we dispersed into a mixture of "seeded" (no pun intended) and pasture fields. The first hour seemed to crawl by with very little being found, and then all Hell broke loose as it so often does as hammered and Roman coinage appeared all over the place and bizzarely in big denominations.

The first one I saw belonged to Nomad who was sporting a big smile as well as an Edward Groat - a great start. Not far from Nomad was The Doc with a slightly smaller hammered half penny. Not to be out done by his mate, Steven King also pulled our a hammered half penny.

Next it was my turn to find something, firstly with a clog clasp featuring the Welsh three feathers and then with Vicky sixpence dated 1864.

More hammered coins were popping up including a very rare William 1st of Scotland coin found by Benny (who always does well on DW events). It was quite apt as we had 4 Scottish guests with us - not sure if they got to see it though! There was also a craking Elizabethan sixpence but that was on the FLO's table so not sure who found it. Another Lizzy and a Charles 1st penny were also being recorded for posterity on the table.

Plenty of people were finding Roman grots and I heard of at least one fibula that was recorded. The finest looking Roman I saw though was in the hands of Iggle Piggle - and it was indeed a stormer.

News reached me that two of the nicest people you could meet Ozzy Head Jo and her brother Melonhead (Mark) had found a hammered coin each. I trudged off through the mud to find them eventually in the furthest field from the car park. On the way I bumped into Rambo who soon joined me when he heard what they had each found.

For those who aren't aware - Jo and Mark were close friends of Farmer Phil and frequently used to all go detecting together along with Casa Dos and Walton Basin Man. Jo recounted how they had made their finds to me:

"When Mark and I walked into the field there was a "congratulations" balloon stuck in one of the trees. As we detected towards it, the balloon broke free and sailed along the ground. We followed it and suddenly Mark got a signal and pulled out a "Milled" Sixpence of Elizabeth! {thats right a MILLED sixpence of Liz - a very, very rare coin in fantastic condition).

After celebrating we continued walking and went into another field when I(Jo) got a signal and sticking out of the mud I could see some silver. I called over Mark, and it turned out to be this!"

This, by the way was an emaculate Charles 1st Half Crown - with detail on the horse that I have never seen as crisp! Someone up above was certainly looking down on the pair of them. Well Done guys - over the moon for you both! It'll be your turn next time Kev!

As the day pulled to a close, most people seemed happy as apart from the 12 hammered coins and a handfull of milled silver, we had all had a fun day out in memory of Farmer Phil. I think Phil would have enjoyed the day.

Special thanks go to Pauly Wow and TaffLaff for arranging the farm. The DW members who donated a Hammered book and minelab polo shirts (sorry guys my brain is frazzled on the names). Mrs Nomad for the lovely cakes. The farmer and his wife who were mesmerised by the age of some of the finds and spent hours talking to DW members. They have told us that we are welcome back. On that note please remember that any farm you attend on a DW rally remains a DW farm and is not to be revisited on your own or volunteered as an alternative clubs rally venue.

Thats it - I am shattered and off to eat my Sunday roast. Enjoy the photos - they may take some time to post as I took one or two!

cheers
Neil

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More still - the best is yet to come!

Here they are!

Final few for now - more tomorrow!

nice roman

FEL TEMP REPARATIO, soldier leading barbarian either from the woods or a hut.

datewise i put it at 348 to 350AD. probably Constans

Glad you guys had a great day and for a good cause how much did you raise in th end

£280 and we got the  book and t shirt to Auction in the next few mins, once I can find out the name of the book
 :)

As ever Neil an excellent write up and to all those who attended I'm glad you all had a great time. Congratulations to those who made some great finds. NOW THEN.........

Mark that coin has gone on one of my wish lists, unfortunately it's on the same one as a King Arthur sixpence and a Genghis Khan penny (Canterbury mint of course), well done fella find of a lifetime.

Jo. you only found your first hammy back in the summer so to find that huge beauty is just plain greedy. A big well done girl, I'm made up for you.

heres a photo of a spindal werl i found in my last hole of the day..i found out neil was about half a mile away i thought it would be best to take the photo myself.lol.
raymondoo

WOW that is one of the nicest I've seen Ray, well done bro.

how much was raised im confused

John £280 + Whatever we raise on the auction tonight .

Great day , as usual, and some truly wonderful finds. i was lucky enough to see pipsters heraldic  pendant  and Mark's milled "Lizzie" but Jo's Charles 1st half crown was stunning. think someone "upstairs" was looking down on you two  ;)
thanks to old friendly faces for making it such a fitting day for Phil.

 ;D i can sleep easy tonight as i can see there  were some cracking finds made and some money raised for farmer phils familly well done and thank you to everyone that attended im absaluteley thrilled  by the way the day turned out.well done to the dw crew for a cracking day even though i was not able to attend,im over the moon for you all.  

Thanks paul your a star mate  ;)

Thanks for a cracking day out in good company. Lots of nice finds and some seriously nice ones!

 Well done to the organisers. A great start to the year.  8)

 

 ;)  Pipster pendant is stunning welldone sir Pipster for this topgoodies wish you loads to come soon .

bonne chance.

Napoleon .

my first dw rally , just like to say met some top people..and had a good crack ...what a site loads of goodies yielded............and bagged myself a hammy ....see you on the next one ...regards paul

some lovely finds made there  ;) thanks for a great day to guys  ;)

Thank you Farmer Phil for letting me and my son 16.5 dd Richard attend your rally today and sending us a dry and sunny day. RIP.
We would also like to thank all the organisers and stewards for giving their time to us and making it an enjoyable day.
ps.I have been called some names but ( iggle piggle).LOL

A great write up about a great day for a great man! Mark, Kev and myself laughed all the way up in the car as we chatted about our dear friend Farmer Phil. It was nice to carry on that laughter with 90 other detectorists as we gave a round of applause to celebrate Farmer Phil before heading off to detect.
When we used to detect with Farmer Phil if we hadn’t found anything much by lunch time Phil would say ‘Don’t worry we’ll have a silver afternoon’ and we would!! Well this time I said it…….and we did!!!
The foil helium balloon was very strange……it was tangled in a tree and we watched as it untangled and  floated passed us, we noticed it said CONGRATULATIONS and we laughed and said It’s from Phil he’s congratulating us for finding our coins (at that point I had a few half pennys and pennys and mark had a shilling and a few others) We followed the direction of the balloon and the rest is history!!
It was nice to have people asking me to see my coin as I’m usually the one asking to see someone elses. Lots of great finds were found so well done everyone, Farmer Phil would be chuffed for you all!
A huge thank you to Neil and Geoff for making it all possible by organising this rally and to all who donated money, well done guys and girls!!
And a massive thank you to Farmer Phil……it was truly a pleasure!!

 Some very nice finds there peeps good write up neil and also jo sorry could not make it broken me fingurs ,,,,,,,,well done

Fantastic finds guys and girls, looks like you all had a great time well done all  ;)

Great day and some cracking finds - well done.

Well done to all on the fab finds.  I just got a roman grot, unexciting coins, buttons etc..
Really pleased for everyone who shone and thanks for the memorable day - even though at the end of it I was on my knees and couldn't move!!!  Too tired even to get out of the car and look at the coin of the day (in my opinion) that Jo found even though she was only a few yards away - still I'm satisfied with the great picture of it Neil.
How does DW manage to get the sun showing at the rallies?  is it something to do with the twilight zone?
Not forgetting a big thank you to Ray for his warmth and big hug  :-[

I was next to you when the shout went up!

It's the finest silver coin I've ever seen. A stunning beauty. And, beacuse of the memories I bet you never
sell it!

grub up at the DW rally........ ;) ;D

This was my first DW rally and although I didn't find anything worth shouting about I still had a great day. I thought the applause to start the rally was a great idea, I didn't have the pleasure of knowing Farmer Phil, but he was obviously a well respected and liked member.
I am glad to see some people had some great finds, detecting in the afternoon sun was just bliss, even after digging the 100th lump of lead !
Congratulations to everyone involved on a rally very well done


Keith

Glad you all had a good day out and enjoyed the report.

Heres a few more photos . . .

well done neil,another great write up on a really brilliant rally, great finds all round,phil would have been proud to see all those that attended,and thanks to all those who arranged it.viv

for me it have to be Nomad and pipster for the best finds. well done and more to come at the next rally.

Napoleon

Did they give you a lift?  ;D

Melonheads was my favourite. Are you blind  ???  ;)

we bunged him 50 quid..lol...the shortcoss was very nice but for me has to be jos crown..a fantastic coin..and as rare as rocking horse wats it....

Melonhead found the milled Elizabethan.  Is this what you are on about because that was what I was on about.

no bob his sisters coin

Oh, he told me he found it. Looks like I got it wrong again. I'll go and stand in the corner again.  :'(

lol

a few more of the gathering members.

few more shots .1out in the field, 2 the day getting started, 3 Melonheads milled lizzy ;)

Thanks every one for turning out to Detect for Phil. The applause said so much. Well done All. It was nice to see so many people and whether you knew Phil or not it meant a lot to those that knew him. Thank you Paulywow for the Farm and a big, big thank you to the landowner for the permission. Saw some lovely finds like Mark and Jo,s coins, Benny,s William 1 of Scotland, Nomads Groat, Roman Rays lovely Spindle whorl and my personal favourite Pipsters Pendant. I found a Token from about 1650 and that was it as I had loads of trouble with batteries and having spent the first hour digging a 4 foot deep hole to find a filled in Victorian drain ably supported by Saxonman and Staterchaser ( thanks guys ) you got the feeling it was going to be one of those days. For Phil I would do it all again and It was all I could do to control myself when Casa Kev pulled out a A4 picture picture of Phil. I am sure we did him proud. Phil it has been a pleasure.

A few pictures from the Farmer Phil rally. First up believe me it is four foot to the bottom.

Saxonman with a field to himself.

I know we were in Hereford but them SAS boys were everywhere

But we all enjoyed our detecting I think.

Some found time for elevenses.

And made some great finds. Not my day but thank you all for a fine day.

My God Paul, is that the flood water coming up from Australia in that hole ;D ;D ;D

my mistake , i think Jos coin is the best find of the day, a big welldone and good luck in your next hunt.

Napoleon.

Believe me Steve it was still a good signal at four foot and as fast as I got the soil out the water came in.

Take you water wings next time. :D :D

i have spoke to Kev recently(Casa Dos) and  i have decided to make all the finds i will recover from the next  couple of rallys will be framed and dedicated to Farmer Phil , i will keep you updated  when it will be complete and will post a picture of the frame .

R.I.P Phil .

Nordine.

What a Brilliant day there was a good few finds for some of you

I really enjoyed once again thanks to all the organizers for these rallies

A few finds that i was lucky enough to get

A police button i believe to be 19th century

A Hans Krauwinckell Jetton possible as early as c1550 (which I never seen or heard of till now)

A George III sixpence 1816

Thanks Again

Wayno

hmm -- got enough that day to make my own snuff movie!!!

other than that nowt else. oh well, better luck next time!