The Wreningham Community Archaeology Project got underway last night (August 7) with the digging of a test pit on the village playing field, led by local archaeologist Steve Hickling.

Old bricks fragments, pantiles, an iron nail and a fossil were among the items uncovered during the short dig.

A number of villagers took part in the digging and sifting training for the main event which is this coming Saturday, August 11, and it is still not too late for anyone to take part.

Villagers are invited to dig a 1m square pit in their garden, sift the soil layer by layer and pick out anything of interest for experts who will be on hand in the village hall to identify finds. You will then get a fascinating insight into the history of your house and land. Pits will be filled in afterwards.

The weekend will start at 10am when everyone will gather at the Village Hall for instructions and anyone who is interested in digging a pit or simply lending a hand (the more the merrier) to those who have already volunteered their gardens.

All the information gathered will be looked at by experts and form part of an official archaeological report. Becky Sillwood, a freelance finds (artefacts) expert will be on hand in the village hall on Saturday if anyone wants to show her anything they have found for identification.

There will be a barbecue for participants from 6pm onwards at the Village Hall social club, so please bring something to barbecue, and the bar will hopefully be open.

If you are interested you can simply turn up at 10am but if possible please contact steve.hickling@norfolk.gov.uk beforehand.

The Step-by-Step guide to digging an archaeological pit is here:
ACA field academy handbook 2011 final
and the test pit record booklet is here:
ACA test pit record b&w 2014

Pictured above are villagers during the test pit dig on Wreningham playing field last night.


Talk

Mike Pinner of the Caister Roman Project will be at Wreningham Village Hall at 8pm on Tuesday 5th June. See the website here. This is a very exciting project which featured in its own Time team episode! Mike will be talking about the excavations in and around the Roman town and the community test-pitting in and around the village. Entry is free.

Practise Pit

There will be a practise test-pit digging session from 11am on Sunday 29th July. Meet on the playing field opposite the School and Village Hall. Bring a spade, trowel and hefty boots! If anyone has an old garden sieve or two, you will find them handy too.

I will take you through the art of effective archaeological digging (for beginners!) ready for your own investigation in August.

The playing field is on the edge of an old common, a popular place for settlement in the medieval period, so there is a fair chance we may find something interesting!

The Real PIT!

The Community Test-Pitting itself will take place on 11th and 12th August (there will be another chance later if you can’t do this date) at a site of your choice around the village – if not your land/garden do make sure the owners has given permission to dig…!

Please send me, Steve Hickling (steve.hickling@norfolk.gov.uk), your email address if you wish to take part. No experience is necessary.


Circus Ferrel is returning to Wreningham playing field. It was last here in May 2015 for 2 or 3 days. So expect to see them on the playing field setting up either on Sunday 17th September or early the following morning. Wednesday evening they be gone – just like that! Access to the play equipment will be maintained.

The school children will have several workshops in the tent with two shows for them and their family and friends: one Tuesday and another on Wednesday. Additional information will be posted when received.


A Parish Council work party gave the village playing field a spring clean and make-over on Saturday April 8.

From 8.30am to 3pm several hardy souls undertook to clean up the playing field and the play equipment on it. Jon put his pressure washer to good use and washed away years of grime from the zip wire platform, the skate park, the shelter, the table, swings and dolphin. Josh, Hughie and Michael worked on the grass covered mats – lifting them, cleaning away layers of earth and grass, and then replacing them. The turf came in handy to restore the grass under and around the shelter. Anne applied the graffiti remover with vim & vigour to the skate park. Meanwhile Keith fitted a set of goal nets onto one of the goal posts and cleaned the posts before helping with the mats.

Thank you everyone for your work. Especial thanks to Christine for allowing us to connect to her tap to provide water for the pressure washer.

So much done and still more to do. We will be arranging for at least one more day of effort to tackle the equipment we did not have time to spruce up. Watch out for announcements, we would love to see more helpers.


Following a report about the trees on Parish land, the Council commissioned Paul Reeder to undertake some trimming, felling, cutting out and tidying up of the trees around the Village Hall, at the back of the “Reading Room” and beside the children’s play area on the playing field. The first two are well underway as I write this. The latter is planned for next Wednesday, 22nd February 2017.

If you or your family are in the playing field on Wednesday, take care.

 


On Saturday, very early (for me), Motion Bear Media started filming scenes for a video commissioned by Norfolk Constabulary. They had obtained prior permission to use the field and I was pleased to offer them access to the facilities within the hall. Just as well since it was a cold and damp day; hot drinks were a must.

Crew & Police Officer

Motion Bear Media is a business venture staffed by students from City College Norwich. They apply their learning and skills for real on live contracts. In this case they are producing a video for the training of police personnel on the subject of vulnerable people – Saturday’s scenes related to a child alone in a park.

Officer approaches girlCar Scene

The police officer (a real one!) observed a young girl (not an actor) apparently alone and unsupervised in a park, considered that there might be an issue and approached her. On gaining her confidence, he took her to the police car in order to take her back home. A simple scenario but one needing tact and care.

Squeaky kitMuch effort was put into making the visuals right, as you might expect, but to see the sound crew gathered around the play equipment to capture the essence of the squeaky chain, and, so many times an empty plastic bottle was recorded dropping onto the ground and bouncing about.

The girl’s parents were on hand to reassure their daughter; her brother and sister kept her feet firmly on the ground! Filming requires much standing around, repeating actions, repeating lines and scrutiny of sound and video. The supervising lecturers made sure the crew were fully focused on progressing the shooting schedule. Even so they did not finish until 11am!

Since it is a police training video it is unlikely that we’ll get to see the finished result. But, it was interesting to watch it being made and to see the two characters played with effortless ease even with the crew gathered closely around them.


Circus Ferrel came to the Wreningham playing field and opened for two nights in early May. Martin, from the circus, had attended a Parish Council meeting to ask to use the playing field. He explained that they work with schools teaching circus skills and that they also open to the public. The circus team would be in Wreningham School and working with the pupils there.

Rob Jones, Headmaster at Wreningham school, later said “We had Circus Ferrel for 3 days in school – the children did circus skills such as juggling, tight rope walking and plate spinning!”

All the reports are that the event was a success and enjoyed by many people.

Martin said “We too couldn’t believe the turn out on Wednesday! Tuesday was quieter but still a lively show with a wonderful mix of local (and not so local) folk. Each week is so different on the road but Wreningham was one of the stays we shall have happy memories of for a long time to come and it’s lovely to have good crowds at the start of the season – the winter break is long and it’s so expensive to get the show out on the road.”

We asked if he had some photos of the two days but Martin and his team worked so hard that “…there’s rarely time to remember to take any!”. However, the school did remember to take along a camera and here are pictures of the students enjoying themselves.

Spinning the plate -1Spinning the plates


P1060178The Parish Council has installed a red bin ​for dog waste ​by the main gate ​to the playing field. ​ This facility is for dog owners to dispose safely​ ​of their dogs’ waste and not be tempted to use the two green waste bins in the playing field. Note that dogs are ​still not allowed onto the play​ing field. The Parish Council will arrange with South Norfolk Council for the bin’s regular emptying.