DetectingWales.com

Well no more than 2 people outside excluding family  and your allowed out once a day for exercise.. So the way I see it detecting is exercise where your in the middle of nowhere and if your like me and have thousands of acres to go on there ain't nothing wrong with a bit of social isolation .. All you social swingers are a bit buggered but if ya got your own land why not.

Just this Minuit on Sky news. The Government are sending everyone in the country a text message. YOU MUST STAY AT HOME

Personally I agree with your sentiments carling. If I get in my car at home, on my own and drive to one of my permissions, on my own and detect in a big field, on my own. How’s that endangering anyone ?
BUT how’s it going to be seen by others ? Morally we should do as Boris is now ordering us to do. But, of course not all scenarios can be taken into account by someone in the centre of London.

Let us know how your getting on in Strangeways 😳😳😉😉👍😂😂😂

Lol and morning to you val if we are going on about the news,,, parks are still open and as said your still allowed out for exercise once a day shopping for essentials and medication ..so people will still be traveling so no need for anyone to take the moral high ground unless there green cause they ain't got anywhere practical to go to exercise  Now in the village I live in I have a 800 acre permission less than a minute drive and another 800 permission less than 10 mins drive.. And several more further afield... Now I could either go there for my exercise or I could walk around my village I know which is safer and better for everybody so yes that's my argument    and I'm going to make it a point to call the landowners before I go so I ain't meeting them but they know I'm about... I'm still being sensible I'm getting my exercise and I ain't near anybody sounds like social distancing to me. And within the law.

I agree with you Carling  - I was out on Sunday and in the entire time I was out, the greatest social interaction I had was with the petrol pump.....

I see the NCMD has issued a statement that we should stop immediately; other people have suggested it is now illegal. I'm still struggling to see how it could be illegal - it is after all exercise.

But unfortunately, despite the current worldwide madness - the people in charge have some big sticks. I'm just hoping, against hope - that the government is as good as its word and cancels the legislation as soon as it isn't needed. It's just that governments don't really have a good track record with that.

I had to laugh  about the 'try using food delivery services' - except that there is a two or three week wait to get a slot........

Aparantly they asked Sara?? A goverment health thing if metal detecting is classed as exercise and the answer is yes but they ain't sure how the police would feel.. I would say they ain't bothered as long as your on your own and on private land.. So yes I shall be out.

Although ‘immediately’ was mentioned I heard that enforcement will not become law till Thursday. Like you carling, I’ve got a few fields 10 mins away, all back lanes. Trouble is I’ve never found anything of interest there and not a single coin. If I go there I’ll be swinging fir swinging sake.  ???

I was a good girl this morning. I did 3 things in one. I walked the dogs, got my exercise, and called into the Co-op for items not delivered by Tesco yesterday.
As Roland said, delivery ? It’s a no go. Tesco are currently showing dates up to 12th April there are NO slots available.
What about Click & Collect ? Just the same.

I’ve had my text from the Gov. had yours yet ?

Hi val I've just been out for a drive and the way I see it is this.. Gov say you can go out and exercise( yes detecting is classed as exercise) and yes you can go for a drive to get some air,, I've seen people walking in fields today and as said yes you can drive for recreation ( so what the ncmd says makes no sense ( all detecting banned) even though you can drive to a field walk in a field for exercise (as long as your on your own) seems to me ncmd actually as a problem with metal detectorists well err. Err metal detecting 😁. Yes I think everybody had a text apart from me it's doing the rounds also again misleading people. Don't go out messages really don't explain a lot🙄🤔)

Lets be honest, detecting is hardly a contact sport, if i can get in a big field, on my own, with some fresh air as company then i cant see a problem with it, your more at risk going to the shops.
I went to my permission on sunday, found a few worn coppers, a nice copper half crown 🤔 and a late silver sixpence. Nothing spectacular but worth the day out. Only people i saw was a couple of ramblers on the far edge of my field, happy days!

I totally agree n8 go on your own stay away from people call the farmer before you go so you haven't got to talk face to face and wear gloves while there especially for opening of gates etc... Job done. Actually just reading the latest update from ncmd if you follow the above procedures then your being as safe as you can and obviously they don't condone it  but it's open to interpretation... Indeed I've just phoned a farmer about tectin he said as long as I don't go near the house  and if I see him don't aproach him it won't be a problem and thanks for calling rather than knocking the door.

I was listening to the Questions & Answers section at tea time and one question came in from a Fisherman. He anted to know if he was OK to go course fishing on a lake he uses. Large lake where they allocate 1 acre per man.
The answer came back that it was still unadvisable because of cross contamination. He could maybe touch something or sit on a bench used by the previous man  :-\ ::)
So the answer was No ! He did say though that the police would not stop you while in the car and ask why and where you are travelling.
I’m inclined to go with the above ideas. Take my main permission (please) its an unoccupied cereal & silage growing farm. In all the times I’ve been ive only ever seen Contractors working and I’ve never seen one of them on foot. They’re always in a vehicle, usually a huge tractor. The only contact is a cheerful wave if they see me in passing. Most times I’m completely on my own. No one sees me come or go and only out of politeness I occasionally phone the owner to check if I’m still OK to
go. In 5 years I’ve seen 1 dog walker.
So you have to aske, where is the harm in that ?

I can't see any harm in that at all val your not hurting anybody and your within the law.. Way more than anybody going to the shop or a walk in the park for example but please follow the above steps. For years we've heard the term from ncmd of responsible detecting, it is a form of exercise and isolation and yes we can do it responsibly rather than just blanket ban it beacuse we ain't sure on the guidelines. As said you can walk in a field and you can drive to a field and if your following above steps. Then ncmd need to give there head a wobble no police is going to walk into a field on private land beacuse they see 1 person detecting it nor are they going to stop you going to and from by car... It is within the law.and to be fair you couldn't class fishing as exercise😁.. Hh

It’s a difficult subject, and all the above comments are very sensible, but it does not take into account the idiots that will call at the farm knock the door, handling gates on the way in, handling gates in the fields, no one knows how long the virus can survive on surfaces, will they take precautions NO.
Was it Martin Luther King that said ‘nothing in more dangerous than ignorance and stupidity’.
I think NCMD are trying to cover all eventualities, most detectorists have been stuck in for the last few months, due to the weather, will another few months make any difference?

It's true mate in what your saying and all I'm saying is if you feel you have to go detecting ( it certainly ain't against the current law)  use you loaf and take precautions.. You know as well as I do a lot of people will still go detecting especially now with the warmer weather and ploughs rolling all im saying again is use you noodle avoid contact, wear gloves, and go on your own.  If it sinks in  then great I think the advice is better than the ncmd advice that no tectin allowed you know loads will not listen.

And I think this is a general problem in life - and we as a people / or the government haven't come to a suitable resolution yet. The roads outside my house had their speed limits dropped to 30mph recently because one person said 'old people cross the road here'. Now the only fatality I know, in 40 years living on that road was my best friend who was run over at a crossing, when the lights were red, and he had a green man, but a drunk driver. My missus has even signed up to be a speed gun user to catch 'crims'. But actually the people who do roar up the road at 60mph - aside from the police and the ambulances - don't care and continue to drive at stupid speeds, whilst the rest of us continue to curse the drop in speed limit.

By the token of ' a few idiots' lots of things could be (and do get) banned - but that almost never stops the people flouting the law in the first place, just annoys people who do stick within the law. I can understand that people are scared - there has been a lot of fear mongering from the government and media, and that in itself causes more problems - but it did seem - a bit like some of the clubs where people were going to turn up in Hazmat suits seems a little extreme. The last time I looked, there were only 7 cases of Covid-19 in Herefordshire - and they are almost all in Hereford itself - and apparently the virus is most transmitted by touch.

As to gates and the like - the virus does not last that long in the open - and sunlight is very good at destroying viruses and the like. Given how few people we see out detecting I would have thought the likelihood of catching the virus from a farm gate is almost nil.  We live in a society that does not understand risk - and we should also understand that almost all journalists and members of the government don't have a sufficient mathematical / analytical background to understand risk either. Just take an estimate of the number of people infected with the disease put out by , I think, the centre for tropical diseases, which said somewhere between '6000 and 23 million' people had the disease in this country.....

Those people who have been badly affected by Covid-19 have - almost to a person - had (multiple) underlying health conditions. These are the people who need to stay safe and protected. These are people who are at risk even from normal infections / 'flu.

Anyway, lecture over :)   [I assess risk as part of my job on a regular basis, and wrote the company Risk assessment and chemical assessment forms. My previous job was in the funeral business, where pandemic planning was part of the job. My current role is heavily data driven].

Well said probono and put forward quite well with previous knowledge behind it... I think we all know health and safety in this country as gone on the loony side of the coin and we are fast becoming a nanny state... When I explain what precautions you should take while out tectin most say what if you have a accident if your out? I say and we all know accidents can happen anytime anywhere and in 20 years tectin I've never had a tectin accident.

As someone who worked in the NHS for 36 years, I can't believe the irresponsible attitude of posters on this thread.

When you or a relative come down with this illness, perhaps you will think again....

Doc we understand what your saying but people will still get out tectin we all know that and we are just saying if you have to go take precautions.. We know it's more dangerous going to the shop or  getting medication and if you have a dog where do you walk it etc... You know as well as anybody or here how isolated you are if you go on one of your permissions alone.. You know people will still detect and unlike the ncmd telling everyone not to go we are saying if you have to go take the same precautions as going to the shop walking the dog etc.. But as you know the chances of meeting anybody in this game are pretty much 0.

No one has to go. Detecting is not an essential activity. The finds will still be there when we come out of this.

Yes I agree but again not everyone is in the same boat. My nearest permission is less than I min drive and 700 acres.. The pic is my  very nearest  permission and yes it's my garden..and includes the land over the wall . Everyone is different. And exercise ie walking is a allowed  activity.. Have you seen how many people are walking about? Detectorists are doing the same but away from people. Anyway I ain't carrying on this thread ncmd  can't ban tectin people will still go out yes it's a form of exercise and if I go out I will use precautions to keep contact to a minimum  wear gloves go alone keep away from people etc or I could go to a supermarket and be breathed all over or I could walk through my village( 1 of the smallest in herefordshire) and say hello to everyone I pass while walking the dog. To be fair the only people that are doing things right in this crisis are not coming out of there house at all.. No shopping, no chores, no socialing, no work,  no dog walking, rambling, taking the kids out no traveling what so ever. Let everyone know if you can do that then maybe some people might come out of there empty fields and  say OK I will put the detecter away.... For maybe a year or 2 ( this is some estimates) maybe the goverment should have a military lock down  and then nobody goes anywhere and everyone complies.

Doc, thank you for the graph - I'm sure everyone is aware of it, and it can look very scary.

Let's put some numbers into perspective.

Just to start, as the numbers,and rate of people being tested increase there will be larger increases in the numbers of people who are tested positive; why not state the numbers of people who got tested who were negatives? That's currently about 85% of those tested (at least 90,000 people) - and testing is currently confined to people who present with symptoms, or who are key workers, such as hospital staff. As a consequence these numbers are not as representative of the general population as might be suggested. I personally think far more people actually have the disease as a percentage of the population.

Wales population is 3.139 million (as of 2018). There are currently 741 confirmed cases.

Simple maths (741/3139000)*100 gives a current confirmed infection rate in Wales of 0.02% of the population.

Based on average age at death, you can work out that roughly 42,000 people died in Wales last year, that equates to 3,500 per month (Cardiff used to have something like 4,000 per year when I worked at the crematorium). I should also point out, from personal knowledge, that deaths are much higher (by about a factor of 5:1) in the winter compared to the summer. I've just taken a bald average, rather than any seasonally adjusted figure.

This means,again using simple maths (28/3500)*100 = 0.8% of the deaths in Wales in March were from people who died with Covid-19.  Let me state that again - they died with Covid-19, not necessarily from Covid-19.

Currently the government has said that Covid-19 is reportable - but that doesn't mean it is the primary cause of death. If someone has AIDS for instance that is put on the death certificate, however it is often secondary infections that kill people.

Do I worry about people - yes of course - my step mother has COPD, and has had a stroke recently, and got a hospital acquired infection - but I would be worried about her in normal times getting any other type of coronovirus or season 'flu. But you know of course that 'flu doesn't get tested like Covid 19 is, and isn't a reportable disease.

Please could you update us with excess mortality due to Covid-19?

I think - as someone who is a scientist - that discussions with explained data are vitally important. Much of what is written in the media is not explained and is emotional - and dare I say selective.

Anyway, I think that should be enough for now.

I am currently following the government's advice even if I think it is based on bad science. I am more worried about the worldwide madness that is obliterating people's pensions and livelihoods.

Again well said mate. I don't pretend to be brilliantly clever😁 and some of the maths lost me a bit but reading through confirms what most people think.. Yes im also concerned that there is now a growing number of people on the Internet that are stating they are having problems paying basic household bills cause they can't get to work and we all know this crisis is going to take many individuals and businesses alike down and most of it won't be through infection..I'm also following gov advice only getting out for shopping and exercise( and not travelling any longer than 2 mins by car for exercise😉  and yes wearing gloves and staying away from people😁

I appreciate the statistical viewpoint Roland, and your question is undoubtedly a valid one.

We will only know for certain when this is all over and data are examined to determine whether there was a significant excess in deaths during this period.

I don’t think we’ll need to wait for it to be all over Doc. We’ve only got to see the reported deaths in Italy, Spain and now the USA to realise what a lethal virus this is and how many are being infected by it, with & without underlying health problems.
What is worrying me is our governments approach to it. This stop, go idea could prolong things rather than stop it. I know what the thinking behind it is but it probably won’t change the outcome in the long run. I wonder how many deaths are expected when you see they are building a Mortuary for up to 2000 at Birmingham Airport !
In the meantime I’m faced with a trip to a supermarket full of morons wandering around like it’s a normal trip out.  >:(

I agree with you val stay indoors apart from shopping, exercise, medication, helping the community, work and those that still have to work is a bit of a joke really ain't it.. This is why people will still throng around the supermarkets and some people will still be tectin ( this is still a, detecting site ain't it?), a lot of detectorists say we got to stay in  beacuse otherwise we will have a military style lock down  and then no tectin( bit of a selfish attitude if you ask me and believe me tectin is the least of the goverment worries... Me I would welcome a complete lock down as that the only way you can truly save lives and everyone will be in the same boat. As said before we all know people are still detecting and we all know people are still being idiots at the supermarket, I know where I would rather be.

With a bit of luck I’ve got a couple of good quality masks coming on Monday.
I’ll feel much happier going round the Co-op looking like a bandit than an idiot.
I think there’s still a lot of apathy toward the warnings around here. It’ll soon change when the first death is reported.
I just hope to not me !

I'm the same I've already got gloves and masks and yes I will also be going out like a bandit in the future😁 and according to a report in the independent gov advisors are telling the gov that these measures will have to be in place over a year so we all going bandito for a while and if your short of wonger. Might as well pawn the tectin kit for 12 months ,,,,(to be fair I thought 2 years of isolation so maybe yes maybe no)  on another note due to people's madness and Facebook there's posts going round now not to use public rights of way for you or your dog as this virus can live on shoes??? and there was even someone supposedly from the NHS telling people don't go shopping even for a loaf of bread for the next 2 weeks.. Whole world's gone nuts. Let's face it this virus as done in 2 weeks what the archis have failed to do for years... Got loads of us off the fields😁😁

Unbelievably today I just happened to ask a question on ebay about a coin for sale, the guy just came back to me and said he found it detecting a week ago!! What is going on? We are meant to be under 'lockdown' aren't we?

Mate some are some aren't believe me, as for the topic it's a bit of a crock now with the ncmd trying to lift the ban,, there still is a virus ain't there? And I gather most are running out swinging if and when this ban is lifted  so it really puts the stay at home don't go out detecting is not important brigade in the shade a bit and coming across a bit holier than thou,, (at least until someone says they can go out then it appears buttons means more than lives.

Mind you, I've had a few people offer coins on eBay that we 'detecting finds' - and I know they aren't because I'd sold them previously, and I knew where they came from, and it was detecting in this country.....

Paul I think your missing the point, unless I am miss reading your last post. Oh not on soap box either ;D
 If the ncmd lifts the ban in line with government guidelines we all are aware the virus is still out there and ALL of us would be expected to take precautions for ourselves and land owners families.

There will always be some idiots out there who consider themselves outside the responsible circle, who can find numerous angles in which to justify metal detecting whilst the rest of us try to follow what has been advised by the NCMD in line with the government.

Well according to Boris looks like detecting in England has got the green light, shame about you Welsh guys though 😁😎

Yes, England get the green light from the NCMD, but not Wales or Scotland.

http://www.ncmd.co.uk/ncmd/covid-19-update-11-5-2020/ (http://www.ncmd.co.uk/ncmd/covid-19-update-11-5-2020/)

Makes you feel like cheating, don’t it !

Resident of wonderful Wales  >:(