DetectingWales.com

Now as you will all have heard Trevor Austin, who was the Finders Representative on the TVC, has stepped down at the end of his second stint in accordance with the rules. The post will be advertised so any one on here going to apply ?

I said to Mark Lodewick I'd love to be on the committee - I've been collecting for twenty years, am an active member of a few clubs (as a detectorist), am President of my local coin society, but he said that as I hadn't worked 'professionally' then I wouldn't really stand a chance.

Who knows?

And you arent a Lord or a Sir or a Member of the NCMD

Ah the old chestnut- no one can be the finders Rep unless they are an officer of the NCMD. Absolute rubbish the post is open to anyone who feels that they have the experience and background to carry out the requirements of the post. When Trevor first applied for the post he was one of three applicants and he was chosen as the best candidate on paper and at interview. I know one of the other applicants who was a detectorist of many year standing as well as an ordinary member of the NCMD - they came second on the list.

Now i understand when the post was readvertised, after Trevor's first stint came to an end, not another person applied. It had been delayed because the then Minister wanted a female representative and as you can guess not one of the fairer gender came forward.

Now the TVC attracts a deal of criticism good and bad, fair and unfair, but there now exists and opportunity for anyone who thinks they can do the job to apply. I would expect that on past analysis of detecting Forum comments with respect to the TVC, that this time there will be dozens of applicants for the post.

The other posts on the TVC are filled by the " experts " and the current list can be viewed online as it is not a secret in any way. The experience of each member is available for scrutiny and many are professionals from the auction and academic world of antiquities and coins, but i would not think for one minute that when their posts come up for review, that a lay person could not apply.

I would still be absolutely amazed if anyone other than a Sir rr Lord or someone with a PhD or someone in the NCMD got the post.
These are old boys clubs, its not what you know but who you know.

Well I do have an MA(Oxon) :) - and I was on a dig in Israel with Sam Moorhead 20 years ago - however I was really disappointed when at university not to be invited to join the secret service (my landlord worked at Bletchley during the war), so maybe I'll be disappointed this time if I apply.....

Ah well see Propono had you wanted the secret service then you should have gone to Cambridge, OK it would probably have been the KGB but they're all very much the same ;D

lol, Geoff, go for it Probono. If you don't try, you'll never know

I do have a few letters behind me,but mostly BILLS . ::)

Probono.
If you get the job I just want you to declare the viccy sixpence I found last week as very rare and treasure trove.
Half a Mill will do, I'm not greedy.
Then I can buy that campsite in the south of France with the Roman Villa in it.

Thanks


Mate !!

Why not? :) (about the Viccy)

It's one of those things that, I suppose 30 years or so you could be an educated amateur (in archaeology, like my parents), or any of many other fields, but nowadays even to be a coffin-loader in a crematorium you need some kind of qualification (I should know, when I worked in a crem I wasn't allowed to do that because I didn't have the certificate, despite being an engineer by trade.......). I used to hear of many people in high positions that had got there through the grammer school system, or working their way up, but the ladder has been well and truly pulled up behind them now.

There are plenty of people out there will skills and experience, not necessarily gained from the traditional path, but qualifications are now used to divide and segregate rather than help people with their social mobility.