DetectingWales.com

for me it was the thought of what still lies on ancient sites and the school trips to the roman remains sites

Someone showed me a hammered coin the size of a shirt button, that was it, hooked!

I like most people got into detecting because I have always been interested in history and archaeology and when I was a kid I used to go looking for pottery and clay pipes on the beach near me and saw someone with a detector and I wanted one.  Being seven years old I couldnt afford a metal detector and forgot about it untill nearly twenty years later then I at last got one.   ;D ;D

i used to go digging for old bottles got talking to a fella who had a detector so i sold all my bottles and  bought one... the rest is history as they say   :)

My Dad was an amateur historian, so i was dragged reluctantly around places of interest, my only incentive was a bag of sweets or a bag of chips on the way home  ;D.
It was only in the 1st years of comprehensive school that i took any intererest in History.
 
Years later i was managing a Pound shop in Mountain ash when an old lady came into the shop and bought a dozen pill boxes,you know the type you put all your pills in for the week ahead.
I asked her if she worked at a care home she said no it was for her detecting finds.few days later the same lady brought in a bag full of the Searcher and Treasure hunting mags.
I was hooked from there on. a week of so later I was walking my dogs on the old parish road to Llanwonno in Ynysir and bumped into Tony Maz,s wife (Maz Detecting products) she invited me to a RARE club meeting but it took me over 10 years to actually go, i dont like to rush things  lol.

Another reason i got into detecting was i like dressing up in Camo lol  :P ;D

WELL I HAVE ALLWAYS LIKED  THE IDEA OF FINDING THINGS  THAT HAVENT SEEN THE LIGHT OF DAY FOR  HUNDREDS OF YEARS ,,,,,  TO BE THE FIRST PERSON TO HOLD  SOMETHING IN YOUR HAND  THAT  HASENT BEEN  TOUCHED  FOR   ALL THAT TIME     I  HAVE A DAMAGED  BACK  SO I HAD TO FIND A HOBBY  THAT  DOSENT  KNACKER  MY BACK UP ,,,, TRIED  GOLF ,,,4 DAYS IN BED IN AGONY,,,,,,,,,,,,   DID  DETECTING YEARS AGO   SO I THAUGHT   WELL  I WILL GIVE IT A TRY   AND  IM  SOOOOO  GLAD I DID ,,,, IVE  FOUND  A FEW  BITS  AND  BOBS    AND  MET  SOME  BRILLIANT  NEW  FRIENDS  IN THE  PROCESS ;D ;D ;D

The Pub!!!

Was in a pub many many years ago supping a few ales and chatting to my mate John who is big on history.

He mentioned he fancied going metal detecting as he knew of a Roman site.

For some reason I thought I'd like to have a go, so we ended up buying second hand C-Scope (CS2M was mine) from an advert in a detecting mag. We went and I ended up finding a roman coin. The thought no one had seen or touched it for about 2000 years was a thrill to me and I just kept going.

Ended up changing machines a few times and finally got one I liked (Whites XLT) which I used for about 6/7 years. Used a lot more since then!

I still enjoy finding stuff but for me a lot of it is enjoying the countryside. I'm enjoying the social and research side now with the internet sites giving info on verything to do with the fascinating hobby.

With the invention of the internet detecting has taken off and lots are at it. Quite different over 20 years ago.

When working as a archaeologist One day I saw a fellow worker tecting a spoil heap and he found about a dozen Roman coins and they were recorded and would end up in the museum store probably never to be seen again so I thought if I get a detector I could have some of these Instead of them being the choice of a chosen few locked away for no one to see. The n the more I do It the more I have become hooked on the hobby.

as it as been said love history since i was at school, but got in to detecting 6years ago a mate in work asked me to go with him bought a prizm2 and i was hooked  ;)

Always interested in history. My cousins family had money (I come from a long line of paupers), and for his birthday he was bought a C-Scope. It was the 1970s and no one much did metal detecting. Well not ONE person who I knew. Even with the C-Scope the finds were numerous and included a few Roman. I wish I could go back thirty years with an E-Trac !!!!  Sites weren't detected out like man are now.

its nice to see your story's boys bet they take you back