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Low Thornhope

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Stoneshifter wrote:
I've still not retrieved my revolutionary cupmarked stone, in the shape of a magic mushroom, from the Portable Antiquities Officer. I need to build my reserves up before I can stand the sadness of him, probably via a piece of paper, saying 'it's just a fossil remnant'. (I left them a magic mushroom, as well, for comparison, and I'm sure that won't have helped).
Oh I dunno, if he's sad.
He was probably sad because until recently his job was looking very doubtful. That, and talking to metal detectorists all day.

Anyhow, maybe he'll be more polite to you in future. PAS has just had an independent review and Recommendation 7 says -

"Skills in community engagement are just as relevant for FLOs as finds expertise. This needs to be taken into account when recruiting and consideration should be given to more formal training and guidance in this field for FLOs."

Considering they've been "engaging" with metal detectorists for ten years this is a strange thing for her to have said. I can only assume that in private conversations with some FLOs she's been told exactly what they really think of them!

No, it's me that's full of sadness. You have to fight your way through the cobwebs (metaphorically) to get to his lovely office. I've only been there once - when he was out - it's redbrick academia land. I doubt whether even one metal detectorist has ventured there. There's an art gallery opposite, that you can whizz round in a minute and a half, with a little shop in the foyer that sells artist's materials at proper prices. Trade oil paint. On campus still, about a hundred metres east is a fallen standing stone with a metal plaque (thisis not a standing stone) and, across the road, just into the Hancock Museum grounds, is a bisected tumulus, with a glass front, against the pavement. (I've a photograph of it somewhere).