Category: Boxford History Project (Page 3 of 3)

Day 5 – Saturday -The Reveal begins!

Considering it’s only day 5 (week 1) of the dig, it’s really amazing just how much has been accomplished. Thanks to all diggers, sievers, washers and recorders for all they have done over the past week – it has exceeded expectations. By the end of the day, nearly half the mosaic had been exposed – thankfully in pretty good order and the finds processing team has kept up with what has been coming out of the ground. People found themselves stopping work and gazing at what was being revealed but we will have to resist that temptation if we are going to be able display the mosaic in all its glory and to Matt’s satisfaction for the Open Day on Saturday 31st August.

The Boxford contingent

I am sure there was a wall there!

Without the sponsors we would not be here

A Telemon appears with eyes, belly button and all!

Photos today from Mike, Joy and David

A BHP Meeting is called to approve an application to the Charity Commission for Charity Status

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN OF A GENERAL MEETING OF THE BOXFORD HISTORY PROJECT AT 19.30 ON TUESDAY 12th FEBRUARY 2019 IN THE BOXFORD HERITAGE CENTRE

AGENDA

 

  1. To approve an application to the Charity Commission for Charitystatus
  2. In accordance with Charity Commission model document Charitable Associations:

a) To adopt a new constitution

b) To initiate a Register of Members (Membership is invited from Boxford and neighbouring parishes)

c) To elect 6 trustees

d) To elect officers viz Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer

3.  To approve the inspected accounts for year ending December 31st 2018

Boxford  History Project -Data Privacy Policy

Personal Data – Collection

  • All the residents, past and present, of the civil parish of Boxford, West Berkshire and its neighbouring parishes are eligible to be members of the Boxford History Project (BHP).
  • A Membership Register is maintained of all residents that have become members (normally by completing a simple form).The personal data consists of name, postal address, a telephone number (either home or mobile) and email address if provided.  This data is maintained on an Excel spreadsheet.
  • In addition, BHP may collect personal data for any individual who volunteers to work on an archaeological site. Personal data consists of name, postal address, telephone numbers (both home and mobile), and email address if provided. Information about medical conditions/medication is collected on an as required basis only for volunteers at risk who work on the archaeological site, as part of Health and Safety requirements.  The medical information is shared only on a need to know basis, is kept securely by the Chair and is destroyed when no longer required.
  • Personal data is used to further our objectives by allowing us to inform members and volunteers of upcoming events and activities of interest. Where members and volunteers have given us permission to send information to them via email, this is our primary method of communication. Emails are sent using blind copies, so no individual can see the email address of others.  Where email consent is not provided, event information is conveyed by phone.
  • Members and Volunteers give us consent for collection of this information as part of joining the Project or as part of the volunteering process.
  • We also retain data for some people who have indicated a particular area of interest or desire to volunteer for specific activities of the BHP.  This information is not kept current, but may be used to contact a specific individual to ask for some assistance.
  • Name and email information is infrequently used to invite all our members to apply to join the BHP committee when a vacancy arises.
  • Currently the Secretary holds the Membership Register and the Chair holds contact details of all volunteers.

Activity Data

  • For each activity that the BHP organises, an attendance log is maintained that includes only names of the attendees.
  • This is created by the Chairman and is kept for three years on a password-protected spreadsheet.

Retention Period

  • Membership and volunteer data is kept up to date.Data is retained for 3 years after the initial date to make it easier to re-commence volunteering.  However, any member or volunteer may request that his/her details are deleted immediately.  All discarded paper records with personal data are shredded.

Data Security

  • Membership data is maintained by the Secretary. Volunteer data is maintained by the Chair.  Both are on an Excel spreadsheet.  It is backed up regularly. In addition, email addresses are stored on the email contact list to make the sending of emails easier.  The Secretary also retains a paper copy of the membership forms in a file.
  • No other Committee members retain any personal data.
  • Personal data is never accessed on portable devices and is only shared with non-Committee members on an anonymised and/or summarised basis. However names of members and volunteers may appear in archaeology reports with their permission, to express appreciation for their support.
  • No other Committee members retain any volunteer data.
  • Personal data is never accessed on portable devices and is only shared with non-Committee members on an anonymised and/or summarised basis. However names of members and volunteers may appear in archaeology reports with their permission, to express appreciation for their support.
  • We do not share data with any other organisation.

Rights of BHP Members and Volunteers

BHP complies with the new General Data Protection Regulations, and all our members and volunteers have the rights outlined in the legislation.

For BHP, these rights are as follows:

  • The right to be informed – A copy of our Data Privacy Policy is available on the Boxford website.
  • The right of access – Our volunteers can email or write to the Chairman to obtain a copy of their personal data. This will be provided within a month of the date of the request.
  • The right to rectification – Our members and volunteers can have their data corrected by emailing or writing to the Chairman. This will be done within a month of the date of the request.
  • The right to erasure – Our members and volunteers have the right to have their data deleted.This will be done within a month of the date of the request.

Data Controller

  • The Data Controller currently is the Chairman.

Roman Boxford Dig 2017

The last of our three Heritage Lottery funded digs will take place this summer, starting on Saturday 12th August in the parish of Boxford about half a mile from the village centre.  We will be working for 2 weeks and volunteers may come and go as convenient for them. However, it is useful for us to know which days volunteers are coming. So please let me know which days you plan to come. Please note Mondays of both weeks will be REST DAYS!

We start with a daily briefing by a professional archaeologist Matt Nichol from Cotswold Archaeology at around 9am; have breaks mid morning and afternoon, stop for lunch and finish around 5pm. Volunteers are covered by insurance – not that we have ever had to claim. There are portable loos on site and a large marquee to provide cover.

We will be excavating a known Roman villa site and another Roman building, which we found by doing a geophysical survey a couple of years ago. It could be another villa or a large agricultural building but since it has not been disturbed we hope to have some decent finds. An excavator does most of the heavy digging and then volunteers move in afterwards.

We also process and document finds and we use volunteers for this too – so there are different opportunities for volunteers. All tools are provided, and professionals will be on site at all times to provide guidance and help. If you would like to volunteer – the only things that you need to provide are gardening gloves to protect your hands, sensible footwear, old      clothing depending on rain or sun,         suncream, a hat/waterproofs, your         lunch and plenty to drink. If you have a garden kneeler you might like to bring that to protect your knees!

We have a good mix of volunteers and hope that some of our 6th formers and Uni students will return again – they seem to have enjoyed their past experiences and for those applying to universities, joining in this kind of project does look good on a Uni application, even if they don’t plan on studying archaeology.

For “old hands” please come with buckets, trowels, hand shovels and wheelbarrows if you have them. We will be putting up the marquee on Monday 7th August – if anyone is available to help with this, will you please give me a call or email, so we can finalise the time.

We especially hope locals will make the most of this last great opportunity to discover more about the place in which they live – particularly as they may not only discover Roman remains in their own gardens but understand and appreciate what they find!

 

Many thanks and look forward to meeting you.

Joy Appleton

Boxford History Project                 01488608422       joy@appleton.uk.net

Revealing Boxford’s Ancient Heritage wins Heritage Lottery Fund support

Boxford History Project has received £62,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for Revealing Boxford’s Ancient Heritage: a community archaeology project. This three-year project under professional archaeological guidance will investigate three closely linked Roman sites near to Boxford village in West Berkshire. Previous work at these sites suggested Roman occupation in an area where little is known about the extent of early settlement.

In the past, our community archaeology has successfully drawn together people from a wide age-range and all walks of life. This time our volunteers will receive specialist training, with lectures and fieldwork, giving them the skills to interpret their local heritage, and identify, record and protect these sites. Any finds will be displayed at the newly built Heritage Centre in Boxford.

Over the past three years, Boxford History Project (BHP) has been helped by the Berkshire Archaeology Research Group (BARG) and Cotswold Archaeology (CA) to undertake preliminary geophysical surveys of all three potential sites and identified varied building outlines, predominantly from the Roman period. Trial excavations took place on the largest of the sites two years ago with some exciting finds. Thanks to National Lottery players, this grant will enable BHP in a formal partnership with BARG and CA to investigate the function, extent, status, chronology and relationship between the three sites, which seem to represent a significant focus of high-status Roman occupation in the Lambourn Valley, with the Roman Road, Ermin Street nearby.

Commenting on the award, Joy Appleton said: “We are somewhat stunned but absolutely thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are confident that the project will enthuse locals and a wider audience to take part in the project and gain a greater understanding of what went on here in Boxford 2000 years ago.”

Explaining the importance of the HLF support, the head of Heritage Lottery Fund South East, Stuart McLeod, said: “We are delighted that, thanks to National Lottery players, we are able to support this fascinating project, which will give visitors and the local community a chance to explore and learn about the heritage under their feet”.

 

Boxford history book – Boxora to Boxford

boxora£9.99

Copies are available from Joy Appleton 01488 608422, Sue Downes 01488 608285 or Marion Knape 01488 608618 or by email: church@boxford.org.uk. All households in Boxford Parish received a free copy of Boxora to Boxford.

 

Acknowledgements

Boxford’s Parish Plan, completed in 2008, identified strong support for the printing of a simple parish history. Indeed at the time of compiling the Parish Plan there had been such a great demographic change, that there were few “locals” who knew the history of the parish before World War II. A more comprehensive history of the parish “Boxford  Barleycorn” written by local teacher Elsie Huntley has long been out of print. Her book provided the starting point for the further research work undertaken by the Boxford History Project team in 2008. The team is greatly indebted to many for their generous giving of information, artefacts, film and photographs; all of which has helped us to understand better the history of this treasured little place now called Boxford. As with all histories, new information comes to light all the time and we hope that in future years, another group will have the enthusiasm to update this history of Boxford.

On a personal level, I would like to pay tribute  to the dedicated sleuths who have contributed so much to the making of this  little book – The Boxford History Project  team: Sue Downes, Marion Knape, Margaret Rigby, Prue Willison and Steve Smart.

Joy Appleton
Chair BHP
2011

Newer posts »

© 2024 Boxford

Theme by Anders NorénUp ↑