Today was a very surreal day in the life of the Silchester ‘Town Life’ project……we began with an official opening of the Silchester Excavation Centre…red ribbon, scissors, champagne and all! Mike cut the ribbon and gave a short speech of thanks to our Saga Louts: Kevin, Sue and John Brown. This exhibition is to showcase Kevins’ photographs of all the people who have wielded trowels on insula IX over the past 18 years. They are as important as the archaeology! John Brown has recreated a section through a shored well, and Sue has created a mini-excavation running through the exhibition (and, although she is too modest to admit it, we are also showing one of her paintings of the Silchester landscape). Margaret Mathews’ fantastic reconstructions of the town’s development also evocatively adorn the screens of the exhibition. It is our Retrospective. Come and see it!
I declare this Exhibition well and truly…open!
This was also a Big Day for me…..’someone’ had picked up on a reference I made in this very blog…..woefully asking if anyone had a hanging basket for my portakabin…..Thank you Sue! It is beautiful.
The culprits outside HQ: John Brown (left), Sue and Kevin aka The SagaLouts
But the really BIG story of today is that it was our Donors’ Day. We had invited all the Friends of Silchester who have supported the project in many ways over the past 18 years to a Grand Finale trench-side meal in a marquee. First we had drinks under canvas when our Friends could meet some of the students and participants in the excavation, and look at some of our finds of years gone by, glass of wine in hand (thank you Emma for providing the expert finds commentary). This was then followed by the sit down meal, a few speeches, and a followup tour of the excavation led by Mike. A good day was had by all. To add to the fun and general unreality of the day…we had the Tadley Silver band playing throughout…I particularly remember the theme to James Bond’s ‘From Russia with Love’ echoing around the trench, with an accompaniment of scraping trowels……
Not a view we will see again! The excavators work as the donors eat…..
Dudley Fishburn (2nd right next to Mike) founder and stalwart of the Silchester Friends
