Hi Guys,

This section is to update you all on things that will be going on in 2007 with the excavations. The first is that there will be a change to both the working week, and the season dates.

1. Justin and his team will be working from Tuesdays to Saturdays, and Andrew's team will remain Sunday through to Thursday. This is to provide 7 days a week excavation on the site through the summer months. Last season we found that people were dissapointed to come to Vindolanda on a staurday and find no work taking place. If we raise expectations, we must move to meet them, hence the change to the working week next season.

2. The excavation season is going to get a little longer. The end date for the excavations in 2007 will be as follows: Justin September the 15th, and Andrew September the 13th. So we are gaining an extra couple of weeks. So here are the dates for 2007. Andrew starts on the 1st of April 2007, an finishes on September the 13th. Justin starts on April the 10th, and finishes on September the 15th.

The applications will go live as always on November the first.

So I am looking forward to hearing from you all after then.

all the best,

Andy

Hi everyone,

As of 9:30 this morning (1st of november) the website has gone live with the excavation applications. Good luck, and I am looking forward to another great season with you all next year.

best,


Andy

Hi guys,

The application form is proving troublesome for some people this morning. It was supposed to be easier than ever, but this seems not to be the case for everyone, some people are having no problem, other are having issues.

If this applies to you, don't worry. Try filling in the blank fields with a N/A and try again. If it is still not working, send me an email with your name and preferred dates, and I will pencil you in until a printed out form from you snail mails its way to my desk. This way nobody will loose their excavation place slot.

I will give everyone two weeks to get their form through to me before I delete your pencilled in place on reciept of an email.

cheers,


Andy

Dear Excavators,

Update on 12/11/2006

Excavation places are filling up quite quickly, so if you want to come in June, July or August, consider that in a few weeks time I fully expect that all of those places will be full. As for the application form? We think we have sorted out all the bugs. We are sorry that it has been a painful experience for some of you to get booked in, but are delighted to welcome so many of you back again next year. We are expecting to have a great season.

For those of you who are applying and want jobs at Vindolanda or to be paid to excavate, I am sorry to say there are no paid jobs going at present. We organise our paid staff a full year in advance, and the museum does not employ anyone without a CV, police background check and an interview, and so please consider this. We vet our staff very carefully, and nobody gets a job on the excavation without first excavating as a volunteer and proving they are worth it. Both Justin and myself fall in to that category, we started very low on the ladder, tea makers and pottery gluers!

I have had a few people who have asked about sharing email details. The data protection act forbids me sending out anyone’s email address, so this forum remains the best place to contact other excavators and pass on comments or info on places to stay, or where so –and-so is staying etc. If you are trying to find that last someone to fill your cottage for the week, do a posting on the accommodation page, use this website. This website is or the Vindolanda volunteers, it will only be as good as you guys are at posting to it!

Lastly, had a few people who have applied and not read the application form visa vie the day changes for Justin's team from Monday to Friday last year to Tuesdays to Saturdays this year. I have also had some grumbling about this from a very few of his old timers, murmurings about accommodation (apparently difficult to book any week on a basis other than Saturday to Saturday), Haltwhistle flower festivals on Saturdays and such like. We accept that a change in working week may cause some inconvenience for some people (Justin in particular!), but there is little we can do about it. People demand to see the excavators working on Saturdays, if you don't want to work on a Saturday, the answer is an easy one, don't apply for a Saturday. Vindolanda is a public site, and we can only excavate because people pay to come into the site to watch us work. Just as the excavators are shareholders in the archaeology of Vindolanda, so to are the people who want to watch that work being done.

all the best,


Andrew

Hi Guys,

There are still plenty of places available for those who wish to join us in April next year. Some are put off by the prospect of snow, gale force winds, driving rain or sleet, and the need to wear a woolly hat, others are not.......Here is a list of the brave, the sturdy and the resolute, people who are excavating in April.

Dilys
Jim
Susan
Joanna
David
Roger
Tasos
Jane
Sue (2nd Sue)
2 Leicester students
Sally
Paul
Joanna
Susan
Albert
Annie
Jane
Chris
Sandy
Bridget
Margaret
Fiona

If you are up to the challenge of Northumberland in April, come and join us.

The Vindolanda April excavation team needs YOU!



Andy

Attached PDF file is the report from the Hedley building excavation on the proposed site for the Vindolanda study cetre.

Hello Vindolanda Volunteers,

We are looking forward to seeing you in the New Year, and we wish you all the best for a happy holiday season. In only 4 months time, we will be back in the trenches.


Vindolanda

Dear Excavators,

A happy New Year to you all. It is now only three months before we are back in the trenches, and all of the staff at Vindolanda are looking forward to meeting you through the course of the year.

All the very best,


Andrew

Director of Excavations
The Vindolanda Trust

The excavations applications for the 2007 season are now closed.

I am pleased to announce that the excavations are now fully booked for the 2007 season. We hope to be opening the bookings for the 2008 season on the 1st of November, but will have more to say closer to the time on that matter. If you want to be included on the mailing list for 2008 please email Fiona Watson at info@vindolanda.com and request to be put on to that list.

Thank you to everyone who have signed up for this season, I hope that you all enjoy your experience and I am looking forward to catching up with you all over the coming months. Don't forget your wellington boots.

All the best,

Andrew

Well,

Here we are, one weekend to go before the 1st of April and it is minus 4 degrees on site, and bright and sunny with a steady northern breeze :D . I am looking forward to meeting the brave gang of April and this is just a reminder to say:

wrap up warm
bring your wellies (wellington boots)

and that I expect to see the following people at 9am at the main car park on the 1st of April:

Alex
Madeline
Alan
Heather
Sarah
Samantha
Nicola
Fiona

Have a safe trip up here.

best,

Andrew

P.S.

I will be out of contact from the 27th of March to the morning of the 1st of April (down at at conference in London) so if any of the above need to contact me prior to arrival please do so before then. Alternatively email fiona at info@vindolanda.com

[SIZE=7]Excavation T-shirts.

[SIZE=1]Notice to all Excavators
2007 Excavation T-shirts

When we put the details of this years excavation t-shirt on the website back in November, we advertised the style, colour and size of the t-shirt.
Unfortunately, when we came to order the t-shirts in March (when we had final numbers and sizes) the t-shirts we had chosen had been discontinued.
Unfortunately there was nothing we could do about this.

Therefore we set out to find an alternative t-shirt! For the main t-shirt there was only one option in the baseball t-shirt style, so we went for that, and in the ladies skinni fit t-shirt we had to go for a plain shirt that was a similar colour. However, in doing this we had one major problem.
The sizes of the new main t-shirts were significantly smaller than the ones we had advertised! Therefore, working on the t-shirt sizes in inches, we got the closest sizes we could to those that you had ordered rather than small, medium, large etc.

So….
• If you ordered a small (38/40”) t-shirt the one you receive will be a
medium (38”)
• If you ordered a medium (40/42”) t-shirt the one you receive will be a
large (40”)
• If you ordered a large (44”) t-shirt the one you receive will be an X
large (42”)
• If you ordered an X large (46/48”) t-shirt the one you receive will be an
XX Large (42”)
• If you ordered an XX Large (50”) t-shirt the one you receive will be an XX
Large (50”) in a plain colour

We are sorry if this has caused any confusion….you’re the same size, it’s the t-shirts that changed!


best,

Andy