23rd March 2005, 05:25 PM
Greetings all! Have landed back in old blighty and shaken the sand from me feet.Mr Hosty-absolutely right sir-I need a slap every now and then (will even pay for it sometimes..)- Whilst I agree that two competing organisations would present rather a divided "front", I do however, feel that the existing one is well past it`s sell-by date and should move over. Whilst I applaud the efforts of the new digger`s forum, I am afraid that the IFA simply know better than everyone else and are not interested in opinions other than their own.Unfortunately for them, I`m a member of the public as well as an archaeologist and as such, I will ask/prompt any damn questions I please and, call them to account for themselves on every available occasion. I should`nt have to- my heritage should be safe in their hands.It`s clearly not so, how about an organisation consisting of professional heritage peeps? Developers and clients only insist on IFA membership because in their own professional environment, membership of such bodies is the norm.What no-one has bothered to explain to them is that the IFA can no more guaruntee standards or professionalism than say, Daffy Duck.Nor even illustrate a motivation to do so. Oxford and Wessex Archaeology may disagree, so be it.There is a huge world of professional heritage workers out there-these two units are not the end of everything.Let`s seriously consider a new body and, explain the reasons for it`s existance. By the way, God it`s cold here.....can`t wait to get in my trench on wednesday...