Tuesday the 11th of May...

Jenny writes:

The day started off slowly in terms of finds in Trench VII; only a few small sherds of pottery, glass and the odd clay pipe piece were found, and the weather wasn't looking too good either. But, by the afternoon our luck had changed - the weather brightened up and in Trench VI we found a lot of pottery ranging from the 17th-19th centuries, including some pretty blue and white transfer/tin-glazed ware, as well as lots of clay pipe, glass and green bottle pieces. Although we are working hard, we are enjoying it and the public interest we have had so far has been very encouraging.

Dean's story of...Banter and Bribery

When members of the public look in from the barriers to our busy trenches, many crane their necks in an attempt to listen to our technical talk and interpretations of the complex archaeology that has been unearthed. In reality however, the stretches of laborious soil shifting are enlightened mostly by trench-banter. This usually consists of us interpreting twigs as pieces of Chester's lost Holy Rood, or discussing battle tactics for nerdy computer games. Today however, our team discovered that one of our members (Gary) has started Salsa lessons, which gave us plenty to laugh at for the afternoon.

On a serious note, our banter is a sign of good morale. Combined with bribes in the form of cakes and sweets from Meggen and Simon, it makes what is often a physically and mentally tiring job that little bit easier.