Dear All,
I have very recently completed my archaeology undergraduate degree at the University of Chester, and begin a part-time MSc at Oxford University in October.
As a mature student, I have had to fund my way through three years of study by working near enough full-time, and thanks to past work experience, I was fortunate enough to get a job as a Roman Educator and schools guide at Roman Tours, based at Chester. It was on this experience that I decided to branch out and start archaeology workshops in schools, which have proven to be very popular, great fun and a means of promoting archaeology with evangelical zeal whilst paying my bills!
I am now a co-director of The Roman Fort Project - an ambitious but deliverable concept to reconstruct a Roman marching camp to be built somewhere in Cheshire/N.Wales to be used as a centre to promote multi-period archaeology and history to school children from across the region. This is a joint venture between Roman Tours and my own Archaeology for Schools project. We have already been offered a number of land options for long-term lease and for pepper-corn rents. This will eventually allow us to offer land and support for outside groups (i.e universities) to use the site for experimental archaeology projects from testing construction techniques, metal working, kilns etc through to scientific testing of cremation, burial, etc. As someone with a personal interest in Early Medieval archaeology, this will be a multi-period facility as opposed to strictly Roman and we eventually foresee a timeline of buildings on the site.
We decided that the idea was exciting enough to enter into the "Take One Small Step" competition ran by Barclays Bank to win ?50,000 to fund a unique idea. Clearly Barclays agreed, as we are now finalists for the Wales region competing against a big design firm and an energy company!
However, the winner is decided by public vote, which is where I was hoping to gain the support of BAJR members. If you think our idea is a good one, you can visit the Barclays link, where you click "vote for this entry" and follow the instructions:
https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/Detail/3932
Also, you can vote by text message by sending the word ROMAN to 62555, which is the cost of your standard text message (i.e if you get free text messages, it's free!).
PLEASE PLEASE support us, as at the very least, winning will create at least one job for an archaeology graduate by just an email and a text message!! If you could pass this info onto colleagues, friends, message boards, students, and anyone with a phone or email account, it would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Dean Paton
The Roman Fort Project
I have very recently completed my archaeology undergraduate degree at the University of Chester, and begin a part-time MSc at Oxford University in October.
As a mature student, I have had to fund my way through three years of study by working near enough full-time, and thanks to past work experience, I was fortunate enough to get a job as a Roman Educator and schools guide at Roman Tours, based at Chester. It was on this experience that I decided to branch out and start archaeology workshops in schools, which have proven to be very popular, great fun and a means of promoting archaeology with evangelical zeal whilst paying my bills!
I am now a co-director of The Roman Fort Project - an ambitious but deliverable concept to reconstruct a Roman marching camp to be built somewhere in Cheshire/N.Wales to be used as a centre to promote multi-period archaeology and history to school children from across the region. This is a joint venture between Roman Tours and my own Archaeology for Schools project. We have already been offered a number of land options for long-term lease and for pepper-corn rents. This will eventually allow us to offer land and support for outside groups (i.e universities) to use the site for experimental archaeology projects from testing construction techniques, metal working, kilns etc through to scientific testing of cremation, burial, etc. As someone with a personal interest in Early Medieval archaeology, this will be a multi-period facility as opposed to strictly Roman and we eventually foresee a timeline of buildings on the site.
We decided that the idea was exciting enough to enter into the "Take One Small Step" competition ran by Barclays Bank to win ?50,000 to fund a unique idea. Clearly Barclays agreed, as we are now finalists for the Wales region competing against a big design firm and an energy company!
However, the winner is decided by public vote, which is where I was hoping to gain the support of BAJR members. If you think our idea is a good one, you can visit the Barclays link, where you click "vote for this entry" and follow the instructions:
https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/Detail/3932
Also, you can vote by text message by sending the word ROMAN to 62555, which is the cost of your standard text message (i.e if you get free text messages, it's free!).
PLEASE PLEASE support us, as at the very least, winning will create at least one job for an archaeology graduate by just an email and a text message!! If you could pass this info onto colleagues, friends, message boards, students, and anyone with a phone or email account, it would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Dean Paton
The Roman Fort Project
