Dear all,

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the 2008 work at Vindolanda, you were as always, an inspiration. It only seems like yesterday that the 2008 excavations have finished for the year, and already we are preparing for 2009.

The applications for participation in 2009 will open on the 1st of November by mid-day GMT unless there are any significant problems. I will keep www.wedigvindolanda.com posted as things develop which should be fairly quickly over the next few weeks. We do not anticipate any issues with the website at this time as the system is well and truly bedded in unlike last year when it was still suffering from some teething problems. Vindolanda will confirm all bookings within 3 days of application being received at the latest so if you do not get correspondence from Vindolanda by this time please contact Vindolanda through the normal channels and we will check your booking has come through.

Telephone: 01434 344 277

Email: info@vindolanda.com

Some excavations stats for 2009:

• There will be over 550 places available for 2009, a similar number to the 2008 season.

• Excavations in 2009 will open on April the 12th – run through to mid September.

• Two teams will be working –

• Andrew Birley’s team form Sunday – Thursday, April 12th – Mid September

• Justin Blakes team Tuesday – Saturday, April (yet to be defined) to mid September

• An excavation team will be operating in a third area – the north field – and this crew will be selected from the Sunday – Thursday team members. There is no option to directly sign up for this work, assignment to the north field is a matter for the discretion of the Director of Excavations and archaeological staff.

• The two site areas under investigation will include the vicus, supervised by Justin Blake and the NW quadrant of the fort, supervised by Andrew Birley.

Further details of what we expect may be in both areas will follow shortly.
I hope that this whets the appetite and that many of you will join us once more for what we hope to be another excellent season on the site.

Definitive excavation dates for the 2009 diary.

Tuesday to Saturday team - 31st of March - September 19th (weeks not working, April 14th - 18th. August 25th - Spetember 5th)

Sunday to Thursday team - April 12th - September 10th (week not working July 5th - 10th).

The excavation applications will be open by 12noon GMT, and an update will go on the website for that time.


best,


Andrew

Should anyone wish a paper copy, or PDF of the Vindolanda excavations application for the 1st of November, can they please email vindolanda at info@vindolanda.com or call on 01434 344 277

thanks,


Andrew

Good luck with the applications tomorrow. Remember that it will take up to 3 days for your email confirmation from me to arrive, and if you have not heard anything after three days please contact vindolanda on info@vindolanda.com (listing your preferred dates) and we will get right back to you. I do not anticipate any problems with the system this year (it has be extensively tested) but the first few days tend to be busy ones with the bookings so please be patient.

Andrew

Want to excavate?

1. go to the www.vindolanda.com website

2. log in to the website or become a member and then log in.

3. click on the shop page

4. click on the 'excavation application' tag

5. fill in the form-

6. your done.


Andy

Excavation places,

20 days after opening the bookings and the excavations are now over 80% full (which is fantastic), meaning more than 400 people have signed up to take part in 2009. Thanks to all of you who have signed on for next year, it will be a smashing season of work.
Remember to book your accommodation in the area as soon as you can to avoid disappointment.

To anyone who has not yet signed up and wishes to do so, I would suggest that they do as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Please do not forget to check the availability listings, and remember that if a week is full (listed as no places) then we cannot take anyone else on that week. We are limited in numbers to 20 on team A and 8 to team B by both health and safety and supervision ratios.

All my very best,

Andrew