DetectingWales.com

Metal Detecting Discussions => Metal Detecting Stories => Topic started by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:01:14 PM



Title: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:01:14 PM
As our first calender year as a Detecting Website is drawing to a close, I thought it would be apt to have a quick review of the past year and touch upon some of the highlights and the occasional lowlights of what has been a very eventful year.

The 15th February 2009 saw the the inaugural Detectingwales.com rally located in the Ancient Vale of Glamorgan courtesy of Altinkum. It was an absolute success and started the ball rolling on the rally front. For that we owe Altinkum a debt of thanks as he brought our Rally plans hurtling forward by several months with his kind offer of land. It was an eventful day, with a smattering of hammered and milled silver coins and a small coin shaped piece of gold than soon started us off speculating that Mickycoin may have found the Worlds first Welsh stater! No matter what the report was back from the Museum, I personally am still convinced it is a coin!

Into mid March and TaffLaff has recently joined the site full of enthusiasm and provided us the land for our 2nd Rally. The numbers were swollen for this one following a media campaign which sees Detectingwales.com securing a regular slot in Treasure Hunting magazine. We have managed to attract members to the rally from West Wales, Hereford and Bristol - all of whom make some decent finds. Ancient Pat steals the day for the first and not the last time with a 22ct gold ring. Borderfox found a fake Charles 1st Halfcrown and James 2nd aptly found a James 1st shilling amongst other silver coins.

At the end of March we ventured into Caerleon - home of the Romans and also as it turned out home of Suspect Devices! This was certainly not the most relaxing rally for myself as shortly into the day I think it was DetectorDave who informed me that a suspect device had been found. I still laugh now when I think of the alarm on the wpc voice when I rang the police station to tell them that we had found a suspected bomb. She calmly asked were there many people around the area. When I replied "Yeah, theres about 30 people leaning over the hole as we speak!" She literally screamed and yelled at me to make a 100 metre exclusion zone! To cut a long story short Newports finest came out and were shortly followed by Herefords Army Bomb Disposal Squad. The result two hours later was one industrial animal feed trough! Still it must rate as the funniest rally to date, as we virtually found bugger all apart from the trough!

Its early May and a rally that went down in the history of Detectingwales.com rallies as Hammerdfest 2009! It was our first raid over the bridge and once everyone had secured their passports, and said goodbyes to loved ones on fear of not returning, we were in the fields! At least 14 hammered coins and numerous milled coins, buckles, Roman dice, and other finds appeared. Some of the stand out finds went to Chef in the form of a virtually unmarked Groat and Ancient Pat again who had three hammered coins. Barry also found and then lost again a medieval buckle. The only other downside was the pile of Human excrement which was destined for the fields. I  think it was Adie who remarked that his car had stunk for weeks later! Well gents as they say "Where theres muck, theres brass!"

Rally Number 5 and we venture to Basseleg to land supplied by Millsy. I only briefly attended this one as I had a prior engagement on an all day Stag Doo! (what a suprise ::)). Geoff supplied the report and photos with the main finds being Colegwent with a gold and diamond ring and Shungav with a hammered sixpence.

We were back over to England for Rally number 6, which became known as The Sunburnt Rally as it was officially scorchio! :P It was a strange rally as not a lot of any age came out, although Terry did managed to find a gold coloured two dollar New Zealand coin, which is where he got the Kiwi Terry name he now goes by!

Over to Blackwood for Rally number 7 supplied by Digga which became known as the Meshak Memorial Rally following the unfortunate passing away of Detectingwales member Derek who was a close friend and neighbour to Phil Ynysboeth. The first find of the day was an infamous stair rod holder which led to much amusement all round following an ongoing debate as to their purpose! More importantly Ancient Pat was at it once again with two groats and a hammered gold coin. The first hammered gold to appear on one of our rallies and may there be many more!

The summer saw our long awaited Two Day Rally Event held in the glorious Vale of Glamorgan. There were numerous highlights that included:
TaffLaff's mansion of a tent, Gazza flying in from Spain, Gazza's cooking and his cabaret (the £1.70 joke! ;D), Marks gold sovereign, Beepy's Republican Denari, Casa Dos's bee hive thimble, Numerous hammered coins, Steven Kings Bronze Age gouge, TaffLaff's Roman button ;) (he knows what I mean), oh and the repeated requests at night time to keep the laughter down! ::)

Day two of the summer event saw us all rise a bit the worse for wear from our sleeping bags and back in the fields for more of the same. The stand out find was Willowtrees spoon. Once again though we were treated to numerous other items and the largest laugh of the day must have been amongst myself, Casa Dos, Adie, Richy etc as we sat watching TaffLaff, Melonhead, Phil Ynysboeth, Borderfox and others dig the biggest hole to date seen on a Detectingwales Rally. They were at it for nearly an hour and still none the wiser as to what they were digging for!

Rally number 10 was kindly provided by OneMoreCoin and turned out to unearth the rally finds of the year which fell luckily to Steven King in the shape of two socketed Bronze Age Axe Heads. Numerous members played a part in the digging and Melonhead recorded it all for posterity in digital video.  A truly great moment in our brief history as Detecting Wales.

October 4th saw a return to Caerleon and the addition of new members for as far as Northampton and Wolverhampton. We really have spread our wings since such humble beginnings. The finds of the day fell to Dennis Long with a gold and diamond ring and Earth24 who had a nice groat.

The final rally so far this year was held over the bridge again with a return to one of our previous sites, minus the human excrement now though! Not quite as successful as the first visit but that was due to the land not being available that we wanted. We still saw a smattering of hamsters though, with Benny having the coin of the day in the form of a James 1st shilling.

Apart from the finds on the rallies, we have been treated to some outstanding personal finds including Collegwent's stunning Roman Buckle, TaffLaffs Templar Ring and recently Rays Stater. Its not just the special finds though that make this site what it is. We all enjoy reading peoples accounts of their days detecting and seeing whats they have discovered.

As I touched upon earlier there have been times when it hasn't been an easy year for some of us, with a member passing away, and on another occasion a member being there for someone as they left this World. On a less serious note there was also the issue with a few ex-members that was a testing time for the DW admin team, which we have now moved on from and will not be revisiting.

I think after everything this year, the site has come out stronger than ever and this is perhaps best highlighted by the recent joining of our 500th member!

For the forthcoming year we have a few ideas in the pipeline, including a Rally location the likes of which we have never attempted before, and with any luck another two day summer event. So keep visiting the site and making it what it is.

Thanks you for your support over the past 12 months.

Neil, Geoff, Rob and the Detecting Wales team.

P.S. I'll be launching the Christmas Competition next week. Thanks go to Gazza for supplying a cracking prize. More on that later!


 


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:04:44 PM
More photos from the year


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:06:09 PM
The bomb!


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:08:50 PM
Still more


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:10:21 PM
Rally 7 onwards!


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:12:37 PM
Rallies 8 and 9


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:14:10 PM
Rally 10 onwards


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 04, 2009, 03:15:22 PM
Last photos for now!


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: coleggwent(phil) on December 04, 2009, 03:23:24 PM
very good report neil on a year with d.w.com ive injoyed is a under statement dont time fly met alot of new freinds you one of them  ;) and a number of very good detectorists this year as been such a sucsess with the thanks of (jellybelly taffy) neil dundee) jeff the terrier) and last but not least (phillis phil ) and hope how new mods will join in and do the same this year not being a a-- licker  :P i think a big thankyou is more than in order credit were credit is dew and of corse a big thankyou from me for letting me be a part of it all the best for 2010 (phil)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: PHIL YNYSBOETH on December 04, 2009, 03:38:04 PM
Great end of year report Neil  ;D

Wow That a year !

Ive got a lots of good memorys from all the DW rallys i was lucky enough to attend

Cant wait to do it all again Next Year ?


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: 150aceboy on December 04, 2009, 03:41:49 PM
Great report Neil, nice to see the finds and finders, well done Neil and DW members :)
Ace  ;)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: cardiff bats (Paul) on December 04, 2009, 03:42:20 PM
Thanks to DW i have got a great introduction into this hobby, and met some great people. May it continue for a long, long time. ;D
Thanks

Bats :)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: TheLoveDoc on December 04, 2009, 04:13:30 PM
what an exellent post .... really enjoyed that  ;)  some stunning pics too, well done  :)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Tafflaff (Rob) on December 04, 2009, 04:15:14 PM
Cracking Post that Neil excellent fella.

Yeah a big well done to all the Detecting Wales members.


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: handyman [Alan} on December 04, 2009, 05:19:46 PM
excellent report, well done neil and the DW team.

look forward to meeting u all again in 2010.

well done everyone involved with DW.

cheers


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: beachboy (viv) on December 04, 2009, 05:37:23 PM
well done Neil,a great report and some fabulous photos,looking forward to next year,met some really great and helpfull people this year,and would like to wish everyone a merry Xmas and a happy new year.(viv)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: seeker on December 04, 2009, 05:41:12 PM
very good report indeed , enjoyed that , looihg forward to next years rallys , :)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: proconsul on December 04, 2009, 06:07:13 PM
Excellent report, Neil. The success of DW over the last year has been due in no short measure to the hard work you and Rob (Tafflaff) have put into the site.

Let's make our second year even better than the first!

Geoff


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: KANE (DES) on December 04, 2009, 06:45:43 PM
well done every one may next year be as good


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Roman (Ray) on December 04, 2009, 07:01:59 PM
yes that was a cracking report neil.
what a smashing first year for detectingwales.com.
thanks to geoff  neil  tafflaff  for the hard work they put into it to make it such an enjoyable forum.and the ralley.s we love so much.
cheers men.
ray.


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: jaseboy on December 04, 2009, 08:59:14 PM
great first year guys!


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: waltonbasinman on December 05, 2009, 06:43:38 PM
Thanks for the review Neil it certainly has been a busy year. May I add that DW has introduced me to some great people who I would have otherwise never met. Learned a lot in the 12 months as well. Look forward to the next 12 and hope we keep growing. Well done all.


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: simon c on December 05, 2009, 08:18:56 PM
Great report Neil,hope the next 12 months is just as good  :)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: DIG IT! (ADIE) on December 06, 2009, 12:38:33 PM
Great write up neil here is hoping for another good year for the site and all its members ;)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Kev on December 06, 2009, 04:16:17 PM
top draw report on DETECTINGWALES.COM Neil, brings back a lot of good memories since D.W.COM started, and i must say as well have meet a lot of nice folks on here and at rallies ,keep up the great work of D.W.COM GEOFF,TAFF NEIL,and all the members keep the site as it is at the top ;)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on December 07, 2009, 04:27:22 PM
Glad you liked the overview ladies and gents. Hopefully next year will be more of the same on the finds and rallies front.

Cheers
Neil


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: earth24 on December 07, 2009, 06:37:58 PM
many thanks to Neil, Geoff and everone in D/W for a great year in which after 3 years detecting i managed to find my first groat, a real beut. 'heres to next year'. everyone have a good christmas and a digging good new year. ;D ;D ;D ;D


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: outlaw on December 24, 2009, 07:25:49 AM
Its a good idea to record annually the history of events.

Merry Christmas to all of you for a very informative and friendly forum from mid wales  ;D

Hope you all have a prosperous new year 2010 !


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: handyman [Alan} on December 24, 2009, 09:10:05 AM
and to add to the report, its well worth noting that the website recorded its 50 000th post in the run up to xmas 2009.

well done everyone - whats the betting we reach 150 000 posts by xmas 2010!

cheers & have a great festive season

alan & denise


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Sexy Legs (Leighton) on December 24, 2009, 11:09:32 AM
Excellent stuff! Roll on 2010!  :)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: PHIL YNYSBOETH on December 24, 2009, 11:15:49 AM
Big up  the Detecting Wales Massive !

Thanks Geoff and the team for guideing us through this, sometimes hard and annoying year

Merry Christmas    ;D ;D ;D


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: bymatt666 (byron) on December 24, 2009, 05:10:56 PM
congratulations on the first year !..i am proud to have been a member since day one !... ;)...although i am a member of at least another six detecting sites, i find i dont go to them anymore....who needs another site when we have DETECTING WALES !!.... ;D....byron


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Legacy Hunter on December 24, 2009, 10:18:15 PM
Well done on a great first year wish i had got into metal detecting a long time ago it is amazing what you find
debs


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Neil on May 01, 2010, 06:36:32 PM
Just re-read my overview of last year for the first time in ages and our first year really was something special for all involved and a great testament to what Detecting Wales has become

It looks like this year will be heading the same way, and we are only a third of the way into it. Well done everyone for keeping this site at the forefront of Welsh detecting.

Neil


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Tafflaff (Rob) on May 01, 2010, 09:25:13 PM
Hear hear Neil , and to boot we're building up a cracking core membership the new members are really taking part . Theres a deep belief in DW, so much that  no matter how much negativity is laiden on us, the true stay true. Thats loyalty and common sense at its best.

DW sets the standard. Others can but follow.


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Legacy Hunter on May 01, 2010, 09:33:33 PM
I AM REALLY ENJOYING BEING A PART OF DW AND A VERY ACTIVE PART AT THAT I LOVE HELPING IF I CAN AND WILL ALWAYS HELP I LOVE THIS HOBBY AND HAVE MET A LOT OF NEW FRIENDS AND I HOPE I AM HELPING AND THAT PEOPLE DO LIKE ME
DEBS


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: handyman [Alan} on May 01, 2010, 09:38:18 PM
we love you debs ... u r a true star


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Roman (Ray) on May 01, 2010, 09:38:54 PM
i like you debs love LOL.
and what you said is right you.ll allways give a hand if needed.
you have.nt seen that boy friend of your have you LOL.


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: Legacy Hunter on May 01, 2010, 10:02:26 PM
RAY HES GONE TO BED BUT I WILL HELP YOU KILL HIM AT THE NEXT DW RALLY LOL
DEBS


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: PHIL YNYSBOETH on May 02, 2010, 05:54:29 AM
Hi Deb

I wish we had more like you in R.A.R.E your an inspiration !


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: reiver on May 20, 2010, 05:43:30 PM
Great write up Neil,about a great bunch of people.Cant wait to be back down at another rally.Keep on swinging Detecting Wales ;)


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: nfl on May 20, 2010, 05:51:26 PM
during my short time on dw all i can say is thanks guys n gals,informative,friendly,intresting,,,,,beeen on a few rallys with you guys now and you are all a cracking bunch ,,,am happpy to say ive just signed up to detecting england and i am glad that this site goes from strenght to strenght ....well done to everyone on this site for making it what it is....paul.


Title: Re: A year in the life of DetectingWales.com
Post by: coinhunter on May 20, 2010, 08:36:11 PM
Some great finds been found in the last year well done all :)


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