Encouraging responsible metal detecting

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Pilgrim P
Pilgrim Aug 1, 2005 22:08:36
Replying to Cheshireman

>I just think that if banning something outright just because a few people don't like it would leave society open to all sorts of abuse. Where would it stop?

No more roads are to be built.
No more houses...........
No more offices............
No more schools..........
No more hospitals........

Where would line be drawn?<

I'm not going to get into a slide on this, basically because it's not a Metal Detectors forum, and I have made my position clear (and I have to go and wash up!). I would just like to say that all the instances you cite in your response are decisions made by representatives of elected goverments, put in power by the consensus politics of this country, acting in the belief that they have the interests of the country (or at least the bit they support) at heart: like 'em or loath 'em, someone voted for them.

Conversely, the people who scavenge item's that are part of this country's historic heritage, just so they can to flash them to their mates over a beer in the local, run the risk of reducing our ability to further our understanding and knowledge (and thus our sharing and connecting with) of our ancestors at risk*. They act purely on their own say-so, under their own beliefs, and without a thought for anything other than their own self-importance (after all, they know what's best for us!). I applaud the measures put in place for voluntary recording, by organisations and individuals, and I applaud Heritage Action's campaign to spread the word to the MD community at large. I hope it works, I really do, and I'll look forward to many evenings munching on vast quantities of humble pie.

Pilgrim


X

*Apologies for being a pompous tw*t, BTW

N nigelswift
nigelswift Aug 2, 2005 06:38:40
Replying to Pilgrim

"I applaud the measures put in place for voluntary recording, by organisations and individuals, and I applaud Heritage Action's campaign to spread the word to the MD community at large. I hope it works, I really do, and I'll look forward to many evenings munching on vast quantities of humble pie."

Then loosen your belt and get ready for a feast...!

You youngsters are too pessimistic. What's needed is brainless optimism. Think of it - all these endless arguments about the rights and wrongs and the number of detectorists and whether and how much damage is caused.... and all the time Farmer Giles is quietly leaning on his gate with the power to sort it totally.

The trouble is, he doesn't know the difference between detectorists or the right questions to ask. That's PAS's fault - 7 years and they haven't informed him, yet it's part of their mission. Proof that they haven't got their message to the public: last year total finds from the general public (fieldwalkers, ramblers, people who dig their back gardens, builders, schoolkids etc etc, totalled a princely 600... out of a population of 60 million).

For every farmer that can be convinced to say no to non-recorders that's another two or three hundred acres whose history won't be stripped away and lost to the community.