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+--- Thread: This is more like it! - Community & Commercial (/showthread.php?tid=874)
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This is more like it! - Community & Commercial - tmsarch - 25th March 2008
Well I seem to have opened a can of worms by mentioning the CAT Thanet Earth site...
I am somewhat concerned however by Unitof1 presenting his incorrect guesswork about an archaeological contractor as truth. He asks in one of his posts "Is there much competition in kent are cat part of the planning police, do the polish diggers get kent county council pensions?" which seems to suggest that he has actually very little knowledge of either the company or the area on which he is making numerous statements.
Even taking a quick look at the CAT website shows that they are nothing to do with Kent County Council. They may (as many different firms do) get grants/commissions for specific projects from the local authority but that does not imply they are part of KCC. As such how can he be so sure that CAT staff get County Council pensions. In fact I would be very surprised if this was the case.
To answer his question I believe there is lots of competition in Kent, I know of friends who work for ASE, OA, Wessex, MoLAS, and others who all regularly work in Kent. Hardly the 'charity in the pocket of the council' picture that Unitof1 presents.
As for the archaeological education officer's pension taking money away from salaries - what tosh. Again a quick look at CAT's website suggests the post is funded by a grant from KCC, the Kent Archaeological Society, Canterbury City Council, Friend of CAT and Heritage Lottery funding. The fact that such a range of organisations are funding a part time post would suggest that even if it is not valued by Unitof1 it is valued locally.
I personally think that charitable trusts have an important position in UK archaeology. I believe that both OA and Wessex have charitable status. Being a charity is no cash-cow instead it brings additional responsibilities that other firms do not have to consider. It is carefully monitored by the charity commission.
I initially raised the Thanet Earth site as I had happened to see a link to it when browsing for a completely unrelated site. I thought it seemed like a positive attempt at engaging the local community in their archaeology and I still stand by this.
This is more like it! - Community & Commercial - BAJR Host - 26th March 2008
Lets remember the point of this thread..
It is a huge, ongoing project, with lots of real outreach work going on in the Greater London area, especially in local schools, at the same time as the excavation.
http://www.lparchaeology.com/prescot
Marrying commercial archaeology with community access.
Uo1
Please keep your one man crusade against money grubbing pension milking charities who not only work but steal the work that you would not/could not even do from under your nose. if you are so worrried about cash being diverted from you, why not set up a community project and milk that cash cow ....
I seriously think there are HUG gaps in your knowledge... and I mean chasms.. pootering around the web and selecting quotes from charity and pension websites.. does not actualy mean anything.
You want to discuss pensions ... keep it on the right thread... cheers ...
All threads will be 'tidied' from now on
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
This is more like it! - Community & Commercial - drpeterwardle - 26th March 2008
Dr Peter Wardle here a few facts:
1. The Thanet earth project is one of four multi-hectare current strip map sample exercises going on in the Ramsgate area at the moment.
2. There are three local units CAT Trust for Thanet Archaeology and a new private firm.
3. At the moment Archaeology South East, Wessex Archaoelogy and Canterbury Archaeology Trust are working there on these big projects.
4. No areas of the Thanet Earth Site are being preserved in site. A series of level platforms are being created.
5. Canterbury Archaeological Trust have curatorial responcibilities in Canterbury but not in Kent.
6. There is a high degree of publicity and outreach for for two of these projects and in particular for the the Thanet Earth Site and for other previous projects.
And yes I am involved in one of these projects.
Dr Peter Wardle
(The amount of the CAT pension fund is interesting and I agree for once with what unitof1 is saying about pensions - I will start a separate thread on this in due course). There are complexities to public archaeology and it is these that should be discussed here.
This is more like it! - Community & Commercial - BAJR Host - 26th March 2008
As far as I can see... CAT (and the others) do a good job in what they are supposed to do...
Outreach and community work - such as Thanet... how you feel it is exploiting diggers... or propping up pensions.... ? give it up. make a point.. I am sure I am not the only one that is asking...
is Uo1 saying we should not have community projects as it takes the bread from the mouth of the digger? has he talked to a digger lately anyway? Or are we trying to mix commercial and community in a way that does not suit Uo1? If he is so worried about it... set up a project, stop bemoaning the 'scam' that you seem to see in all directions, and get milking the supposed cash cow.. and save for your pension!
CAT, LP and others who actually do think beyond the fencing... all have my full support. :face-approve:
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
This is more like it! - Community & Commercial - Steven - 26th March 2008
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Unitof1
Community project here hosty, theres no one here in my area, they switched the lights off years ago.
Hi
Your comment might come as a surprise to some people such as the CBA as the Washingborough Archaeology Group were Highly Commended in the 2007 Marsh Awards, or the Community Archaeology Project team in North Lincs who received ?50,000 for Fieldwalking Projects, oh, or the Heritage Trust for Lincolnshire who set up the Boston Bare Bones project, the Lincolnshire Limewoods, the Tupholm building recording. I could go on but I'm kinda sick of pointing out your ignorance because you find it impossible to admit your just plain wrong on so much and like the sound/look of your own words rather than accepting that people know more than you do. It must be hell for people like plumbers, heating engineers etc when they come round to fix something for you because I'm certain you tell them exactly how they should be doing it.
Steven
This is more like it! - Community & Commercial - BAJR Host - 27th March 2008
Sorry to everyine... but I have massively pruned the thread as it contravened a few AUPs. and some!
I have tried to keep the essence of the thread intact... I will try to be more proactive in future.
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu