Hi our names are Richard and Gill Evans and we decided to start this club because we realised that there was a niche in the market for a club like this to cover the Midlands area. Many detectorists have problems gaining permission to detect on farm land. We believe that as with other similiar organisations it was easier to gain permission to search if a club was mentioned, land owners seemed happier with a more organised approach and to have someone accountable. There are already several clubs that run in the same way but we believed no one is covering the area we intend to cover.
Our main area of operations will be Northants as that is where we live and to be realistic we have to get to farms early enough in the morning to put out signs, so they have to be within a sensible driving time from where we live. The area we will try to cover is Northants, Cambs, Leicestershire, Bedfordshire, South Lincs, West Norfolk, West Suffolk, North West Essex, North Herts, Norths Bucks, North East Oxfordshire, East Warwickshire and maybe into South East Staffs.
We intend eventually for digs to take place once a week, but this may be once a fortnight until we get completely established, and again will depend on the availability of farms.
We will try and run the club as much over the Internet as possible. There is a section on this site that will require a password and each weeks digs will be placed on this page. There will be strict rules governing the password and within the rules there will be a clause the each paid up member must not pass this password on. It will also be changed from time to time and only members will be informed of the changes. The idea being that each week you will be able to log onto the site and see what the dig is for this week, along with directions and any other information.
Although this will be very helpful for most, some members will not have access to the internet and therefore will have to have this information posted to them in the form of a newsletter each week. We would prefer people to have access via the net as this will be quicker and easier and we will not have to rely on the Royal Mail getting the newsletter to you on time.
The club will charge a basic membership fee of £25 a year. This will cover things like, producing membership cards for everyone, postage, stationary, etc. There will then be a dig fee each week of £8 for the day.
We are will try to make sure that there is a caterer at each event to provide food and drink. Also if attendances prove good then we will also look into the possibility of having a portaloo at each event.
We will also try and hold various other events during the year, but as yet these will have to be decided. Maybe a Christmas Special and an Easter Dig!
We will try to organise the digs around the area as much as possible so as to try and be fair to everyone as we hope to have members in all those areas ( and more ) but of course it is very much dependant on where we can get permission to dig at the time.
We hope to see as many at the digs as possible and will try and make every effort not to clash with other ventures so that you will have as much choice as possible.
We will also try and obtain good historical areas to detect on but of course as with this hobby what you find we can't guarentee but will try our best.
Membership Cards
We do intend to have a membership card which each member will receive with the members photographs on them and we will ask you to display this where it can be seen whilst you are detecting, ideally they could be attached to your detector but as several members have several machines you must remember to swap them over when you change your machine. We will endeavour to find a way to attach theses membership cards which will make this as easy as possible.
All of this and further details of membership will follow.
Above all it is our intention to try and make this club as friendly and enjoyable as possible.