We are a dig which needs your help! And that is why every single person who visits us is incredibly important. We receive a minimum of external funding: the dig costs c.£180,000 each season and every year it is touch and go whether or not we will be able to run the project. The university contributes towards the teaching costs of the students, but Mike and I make up the shortfall by a) charging people other than our Reading students t0 join the excavation b) charitable donations by generous people visiting the excavation and recognising the importance of this project in training the next generation of archaeologists and in answering fundamental research questions about the Roman and Iron Age occupation of this major ancestral town.
Our 2 Open Days provide much-needed funds for the continuation of the project. Without outside donations we would have to close, and this 55m by 55m trench would lie fallow and incomplete. We do not charge for entrance to the site and we rely on our visitors’ generosity. We hired 50 head sets for our site tours this year – at a cost of nearly £4,000 to the project. We consider this a worthwhile cost – these headphones have transformed our site tours – but at a financial cost to the project. But we want to share our discoveries in the most audible way possible. So, listen in! Visit us and continue to support the excavation throughout its dog day afternoon…
The Silchester Town Life Project - courtesy of Mark Household's kite!
And – finally – today Lovely Lydia left us! Lydia has been helping Jean (our cook) every weekend with breakfast and lunches. But Lydia’s 2012 time with us is over and we said a lunchtime ‘goodbye’ with tokens of our appreciation . We hope Lydia will return in future seasons.
Thank you Lydia!
Mike enjoys a forbidden lunch....