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Author Topic: Year four in the life of Detectingwales.com 2012  (Read 22546 times)
Neil
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« on: December 17, 2012, 01:10:55 PM »

Year Four in the life of Detectingwales.com
   
It’s that time of year again for a review of the past years highlights on Detecting Wales.  I have tried my best to remember who found what and to thank all concerned, but I dare say I will have omitted a few.

It’s been a busy year with over 600 new members joining us since last year. As always some members choose to only view, where as others throw themselves wholeheartedly into our detecting community. Those newbies who have joined in making numerous posts include: Anthony Jay, NBates, Ken Comet, Stickygreen, Probono, Lucky, Hotmill, Imnotginger and CTX3030 to name but a few. I genuinely feel that the more you put into DW, the more you get out of it, in the form of friendships, knowledge and detecting company.

We have had plenty of healthy debate this year on a vast array of detecting related topics which for the large part have been informative and well balanced. Occasionally it got into the “My detectors deeper, prettier, or has more dials than yours” realm, but as a rule it was good to see opinions being aired on the forum.

Behind the scenes at DW Head Quarters, it has been a relatively quiet year on the admin front with no one banned – although one or two came close! We have had the odd cyber attack, and a multitude of Spanish and Chinese bloggers to deal with, along with the migration onto an alternative server.  

We must also celebrate our main detractor (He-who-must-not-be-named), who has been in fine form all year, having notched up a record number of DW related posts. Well done to those members name checked throughout the year.  It’s good to see (He-who-must-not-be-named) is such a keen and avid reader of Detecting Wales.

Moving on to the more exciting topic of Detecting Finds, we have the annual update on the DW Private Members Club, which consists of those lucky enough to find gold coins. This prestigious club has had its ranks swollen by the addition of Mike (1825 Sovereign), Searcher (1857 Sovereign), Herbie (1756 Half Guinea), Medievalman (1762 quarter guinea), Detectski (1855 Sovereign), Topcat (1747 Half Guinea), Tombs (Sovereign), Dances With Badgers (1884 Sovereign), Zeus (Half Sovereign) and Handyman (Cunobelin stater).

A number of you have made outstanding individual finds in the past twelve months  that are equally worthy of note, and hints at what still remains on this Treasured Isle to be discovered, and saved for posterity. Some of the finds that spring to mind include:

The Doc and his first Medieval facing-bust groat.

CelticSpikey with a Medieval field of dreams, that had many of us on tenterhooks for his next post.

Roger G on his gold 14th Century annular ring brooch.

Metal Mickey on his unusual array of estuary finds.

Radnor Bandit with a James II Half Crown using just the power of sight!

Chef for doing the same with his hawk like eyes and finding a denari!

GI Jan on her first Roman coin.

John Talbot with a Bronze Age Axe hoard.

Mike the Hobbit on a 22ct gold ring, found while getting sand between his toes.

Scrappy Doo on his 1st Denari.

Landyman with a Bronze Age axe hoards consisting of nine socket and looped variants as well as a single palstave.

Shungav on a Roman hoard of 500+ coins that is winding its way through the Treasure Act.

NBates on a Roman hoard excavated with a FLO on Cheffy’s land.


Despite the inclement weather we have still managed to get the Detectingwales clan together on thirteen occasions. A brief overview follows:

Rally 46 Stags & Birthdays.
Held in mid January, the first rally of the year saw 90 members coming from as far afield as Derby and Swindon heading to fields that produced a hand full of hammered, milled silver, Roman coins, fibulas and most interestingly sacks of potatoes!  We also celebrated numerous Birthdays and Pip’s Pre Wedding Stag detecting session.

Rally 47 Sticky Mud & Sovereigns.
The Polden Hills in glorious sunshine with muddy fields was the destination for the day. The beautiful peace and country side being regularly shattered by the frequent explosions of a bird scarer that saw members diving for cover. It was to be a golden rally with firstly John Talbot finding the bezel from a gold ring, and then next Rod with a Young Head Vicky Sovereign, followed by Mike with a George IV sovereign.  A  great days detecting all round!

Rally 48 A Touch of Wind.
Back to the VoG and 70mph winds, driving rain and finally sleet! Around fifty DW members braved the elements and were rewarded with limited finds including a James 1st sixpence, a Lizzy penny for Tom Clode and a chap called Peter had a Denarii

Rally 49 Sunshine & Sheep
A bright and sunny day saw The DW masses land in Pontypridd courtesy of Mike McCabe. The day started with a token hunt for a range of prizes and ended with a smattering of milled silver, a toy cannon and a William II sixpence for Zeus.

Rally 50 That’s Fifty and Not Out!
Hereford was the location for DW’s fiftieth rally after a last minute cancellation - Roman Ray pulled through with a farm for us to swing on. A great cross section of finds appeared including a groat of Queen Mary for our smiling Frenchman - Nordine, a Royal Flying Corp cat badge for Shungav and a dupondis for GI Jan (her first Roman coin). We managed to set a unrecorded Roman context to the farm with more coinage, fibulas and a bronze key being unearthed. The stand out find of the day was found by Stan’s mate Jeff who discovered a cracker of a 16th Century personal seal.

Rally 51  Green, Green Grass of Success.
Over to Bridgewater with stunning scenery as long as you avoided looking at Hinckly Point Power Station!  I couldn’t attend this one as I was in plaster, ironically after getting plastered! The Finds Liason Officer present was kept busy all day with a plethora of finds, including: Herbie with a cut half of Henry III, Jack Horner with a silver and gilt Tudor dress hook, Hipster with a Charles 1st half groat and The Ferret with a medieval horse pendent.

Rally 52 Where are the Donkeys and Ice Creams?
Back to God’s Own Land for a days detecting in the VoG with a short notice rally following the cancellation of the annual two dayer - due to adverse weather conditions. Amongst the finds The Doc turned up a cut Stuart period groat, and the oddest find of the day went to the Rooky Pair who found a Chinese good luck pendent. What that is doing in a field in the Vale is anyones guess!

Rally 53 What have the Romans ever done for us?
Back to Bridgewater for 60 acres of stubble that had been waiting for us. Somehow the parking got confused with around 10 cars parking elsewhere and all arriving convoy style into the field. We were graced with local FLO, Laura, who recorded over 30 items throughout the rally for posterity. They included a crotal bell found by myself, fibulas by Chef and Rambo and a number of other finds dating as far back as the Neolithic period (core end of flint). At the end of the day Mark found a groat of Edward 1st, only for it to be unceremoniously washed by Cheffy – much to Mark’s shock!

Rally 54 The Heatwave, Hammered & Hotspot Rally
It’s the VoG again, and a Roman hotspot was uncovered as numerous members found a smattering of Roman casual losses, including denarii for Richard 16.5DD and Willowtree. The Romans weren’t the only ones around though judging by the amount of hammered that came up, and the belter of a Medieval jetton found ironically by IFINDNOTHING.

Rally 55 The Penny Farthing Rally.
This rally was brought forward by a day due to the inclement weather scheduled for the Sunday. We were back searching for the Romans and succeeded with a few more denari and a possible Roman brothel token. Members followed the tractors as they disked like a flock of seagulls (only without the 80’s haircuts) and were rewarded with a hammered coinage count that was well into double figures. The FLO for the day was Rowena,who amongst the Romans and hammered coins had to record a three lions horse pendent found by Anthony J.

Rally 56 The Laughing Donkey Rally.
Over the bridge again and we landed in Hereford, where Walton Basin Man gave us the “Kiss of Death” by announcing if no Roman coins were found he was going to eat his hat! You can guess what happened. It was made up for though by the unusual experience of detecting in rows and rows of orchards. Finds appeared aplenty, including GI Jan with a pewter whistle, Mrs Steptoe with a scarce William IV farthing and Deadlock with a medieval groat. Of course we also had the Laughing Donkey who was obsessed with TaffLaff’s antics for entertainment.

Rally 57 Detectorists Came in two by two, Hoorah, Hoorah!
A frosty start in the town where you can still shoot a Welshman, on a Sunday, with a long bow, as long as you are in Cathedral Close.  Naturally we all donned suitable armour and having traversed some mildly flooded fields the finds started appearing, including Lloyder with a giant lions head gilded buckle, Mike with some Roman coinage and Little Chub with his first ever hammered coin, which was a Charles 1st sixpence. The injury of the day though was surely our own TaffLaff who managed to damage his arm pushing Jeff The Wizard’s van – should have used the Wizards magic mate!

Rally 58 The Return of the Santa Hats!
The last rally of the year is the now annual Santa Hat event. It’s always bemusing to see detectorists clad in camo and santa hats – apparently it is also mildly distressing for horses to see this! Over a hundred ardent DW members joined us for the event with prizes being won of a Garrett pinpointer donated by  Regtons and a years Treasure Hunting subscription from Green Light Publishing. The stand out finds including a couple of fibulas, silver coinage and a gold cufflink.


Here comes the Stat Attack 2012: In total we now have 1974 members.  We attract around 50 new members a month.  Average posts a day is dead on 100. Total topics for the past year is 3,341. On an individual date in March we had the grand figure of 146 online at the same time. In February alone there was well over half a million, in fact 636,000 page views. Total page views since we launched DW is a staggering 16million+ ! Detectingwales has quickly become one of the leading detecting websites not just in the UK, but in the World. That’s thanks to you, the members, for your continued support and participation.

We continue to feature in Europe’s leading detecting magazine, Treasure Hunting , who afford us maximum support and exposure with around 40 articles having now been published. As always if anyone wants help getting an article published just let me know.

Our sister site up North, where the men wear the skirts, has grown into the leading detecting site in Scotland, offering frequent rallies and a wealth of knowledge. They should be commended on running such a successful site, if you get the chance, drop in to www.Detectingscotland.com and see what they are finding.

Well done to the Moderators old and new on a sterling job throughout the year, we have a new Mod joining the ranks in the new year.  Our thanks as always goes to The Doc, Handyman and Chef without whom the vast majority of us would be stumped on coin identification, classification, mint and what it was last used to purchase! We also must not forget the several Finds Liaison Officers who have worked side by side with us on many of the rallies.

Congratulations to long standing member Jaydogg, on his well deserved Welsh Detector Find of the Year award which he received earlier in the year for his Roman bronze boars head sporting two faces that was found and duly reported on a DW rally last year.

Unfortunately a number of members have been poorly this year with an array of ailments, and I am sure we all wish them a speedy recovery and that they soon be swinging the coil again.

A mythical Gladiator once uttered that “What we do in life, echoes an eternity.” As responsible detectorists I think it is perhaps more apt to say “What we find in life, is saved for an eternity.” As such we should all be duly recording our finds, either with a FLO or through PAS.  We are only the guardians of these finds whilst on this mortal plain, and I can’t stress how important it is that a record is made of your finds, even if in the worse scenario it is just a personal record.

The Future – As we have seen following a turbulent year of weather, we are often in the hands of the Gods (blame Jupiter or Chaac – take your pick!) regarding when and where we can get access to farmland. The amount of farms that I know Rob secured this year, only for the harvest date to be washed away or the parking to be waterlogged or the pastures to be under a foot of water is literally unbelievable. I’ve not known a detecting year like it. Hopefully the coming year will be a tad kinder to us.

We certainly intend to get the ball rolling with The Return of the Detecting Wales 2 Day Rally, and still have a catalogue of 50 farms we are welcome back on.
We have also been toying with a rally further afield (possibly Norfolk) and although we have talked about it for a number of years, we are still keen to get a Wales V Scotland international event up and running (those of less auspicious lineage can choose a side for the day).

What we are equally interested in (perhaps you can help) is those farms or locations where you have always had that inkling it would be worth a visit, but have for whatever reason never been able to gain permission  for. If you know of such a farm or area drop TaffLaff a PM and let him work his magic. I swear if he had Liz’s direct number he could convince her for a rally on the Great Garden at Buckingham Palace!  

On that note, as always a huge debt of thanks is owed to the ever present TaffLaff and Proconsol for the enormous amount of unsung work they each put into keeping Detectingwales alive and fresh.

Year Five for Detectingwales.com is on the horizon, and may the new year bring all members old and new, good health, happiness, and a wealth of finds.

Keep the Faith
Neil


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« Last Edit: December 17, 2012, 04:51:47 PM by Neil » Logged

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boys life when he has a raging urge to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.

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If anyone wants to sell any S c r a p gold or sovereigns, regardless of condition -  ask me for a price first please.
Neil
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« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2012, 01:12:51 PM »

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Logged

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boys life when he has a raging urge to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.

Mark Twain 1835 - 1910

If anyone wants to sell any S c r a p gold or sovereigns, regardless of condition -  ask me for a price first please.
Neil
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« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2012, 01:16:05 PM »

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« Last Edit: January 24, 2013, 03:48:49 PM by Neil » Logged

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boys life when he has a raging urge to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.

Mark Twain 1835 - 1910

If anyone wants to sell any S c r a p gold or sovereigns, regardless of condition -  ask me for a price first please.
Mike
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« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2012, 04:02:51 PM »

great write up as usual neil , well done to all the team fortheir hard work this last year
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« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2012, 04:19:57 PM »

A good read Neil thanks, look forward to plenty more rallies in 2013, see you all again very soon!!!!!

Nick
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Zeus (Joel)
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« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2012, 04:35:06 PM »

Excellent write up Neil. Do I not get to join the club with my 1/2 sovereign ? Or my 1st roman coin in the form of a silver republic denarius ?  Grin Grin Grin Grin Grin
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2013 Finds

6 hammered
0 gold
0 Roman
handyman [Alan}
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« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2012, 05:12:33 PM »

Yet again, another super write up. Well done Neil and many thanks to you, taff, proconsul and all the mods, for the hard work that goes on to make DW such a success.

Best wishes to you all over the xmas season and happy hunting throughout 2013.
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« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2012, 05:34:22 PM »



Nice write up summary of the year.
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« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2012, 05:54:43 PM »

YEP !!! and it keeps getting better and better  Wink Wink Wink long may it last, A super big thanks to Neil,Taff, Proconsul and all the Mods .... A super look back over the last year Neil...
Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year
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« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2012, 06:00:45 PM »

Great write up Neil and as has already been said , a big thank you
to everybody who helps run this great forum and the rallies.
merry Christmas and  a fantastic New Year to everyone  Grin Grin Grin
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« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2012, 06:20:05 PM »

CRACKING write up neil,BACK OF THE NET SIR,,,all the best 2 the team ur all ace,ROCK N ROLL 2013 WITH DW..... Roll Eyes Roll Eyes Roll Eyes ::)GI.JAN X ROLLINGSTONES63.
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« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2012, 06:58:55 PM »

Great write up Neil enjoyed reading that - here is to an even better next year.
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« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2012, 07:28:06 PM »

Great write up Neil, well done to everybody, lets hope 2013 is just as good Smiley

Herbie.
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Same sh*t different hole!!
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« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2012, 07:55:06 PM »

A great read Neil,thanks.
Well done to all involved in Detecting Wales for another great year Wink
Merry Christmas to you all  Smiley
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« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2012, 09:56:22 PM »

a great round-up of the year neil..... Wink.....many thanks to the "team" for all the hard work, and congratulations on a fantastic site !..........byron
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