Wessex Metal Detecting Association Newbury, Berkshire
We meet at 8.00pm on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday in every month - at the Conservative Club - Newbury
We always welcome visitors - just come along to any meeting.Email wessex.club@gmail.com for further details - or see below.
Click these links to see the Club Calendar or Newsletters. Club Calendar
Current Newsletters Archive Newsletters
Club Nights
We meet twice a month at the Conservative club in Newbury. If you would like to come along and see what we are about, please just turn up around 8.00pm. You don't need to book in advance. The Conservative club is located just off the ring road, next to the train station. To get into the club, you will need to push the button on the entry phone and just tell the barman that you are visiting the detecting club. If you park behind the club, you will probably find the back door propped open - just come on in.
Currently, we cannot accept any new members but if you are interested in joining at a later date, please drop us a line and we will add your name to the waiting list. In the meantime, you are welcome to come along to a club meeting to see if it's what you are looking for.
The first Wednesday is primarily a social event, where we try to organise something of interest, like a talk, a quiz or an auction. The third Wednesday is our "Find of the month" event where members (and guests) display their recent finds. We vote on the finds and offer a small prize for the best coin, artefact and display. Points are awarded for everything displayed and extra points added for winning. These are carried forward to the annual prize-giving where the winners with the most points are awarded more substantial prizes.
Find of the Month - Results 2008 Find of the Month - Results 2007
Club Sites
We have numerous club sites around Berkshire and North Hampshire. Each site has a site organiser who will keep in contact with the farmer to find out when land becomes available to detect. The site meetings tend to be on a Sunday, from 10.00am onwards. We charge a small site fee (currently £5.00) which is given in full to the farmer. Until recently, we had not needed to pay for any of our sites, but with the emergence of commercial clubs paying farmers to detect, we have been forced to do the same. We are always looking for new sites and will reward any member who can find us somewhere suitable to detect. As we are a small club, we can make good use of small sites that would not be of interest to the commercial organisers.
We also try to organise coach trips to do a bit of beach or river detecting. In recent years we've visited the Thames foreshore a few times and Weymouth beach. We also join forces with Mick Turrell of Leisure Promotions for short break detecting holidays in Guernsey.
Other Activities
For the last few years, we have arranged a subsidised Christmas meal for all paid up members. For two years running, we went to the Hind's Head in Aldermaston, and for Christmas 2008 we visited the Old Mill, also in Aldermaston and for 2009 we were at the Swan at Newtown. We hope we can continue with this tradition as it's a great social event which is enjoyed by all. Following our party at the Old Mill, the owner offered to allow us to detect
around the hotel. We subsequently organised a good family day out including a cold buffet lunch in the hotel.
We try to organise at least one cultural trip per year to a museum or exhibition. in the past these have included the British Museum, The Pompeii Exhibition at the Italian Institute and the Museum of London. Suggestions are always welcome for further outings. We try to organise transport for all but the most local events, as it makes it into a more enjoyable experience.
For many years we've organised an annual charity rally. We've been surprisingly successful at finding really good sites for these. The last two were in aid of the local Rotary Club & the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The latter in memory of one of our club members who died from this dreadful disease. The 2009 rally was held at Kingsclere Estates and the previous two on the Benyon Estate at Englefield. Earlier rallies were held at Chieveley, Peasemore and Hampstead Marshall.
You can see some of the finds from these rallies in the pages below.
Click here to see Rally Report - September 2007
Here are a few photos showing some of the artefacts from the first Englefield Rally - You can click on the page to enlarge the imagesClick here to see the Coin finds from the first Englefield rally
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