Volunteering in the HER by Joanna Davies

Hello there. I volunteered for Access to Archaeology as part of my four week placement at GGAT for my degree in Archaeology and Ancient History at Cardiff University. This was the second time I was on placement at GGAT; good job they let me back! Two of the weeks were spent in HER working with Leonora in the room with the best view ever. I had done HER last year but this year knew the system (roughly) so was able to enter more data. I feel like I have contributed to the database and learnt so much about the workings of an archaeology trust. Reading the reports as I went along I saw the good, the bad and the bizarre of report writing, but each report showed the amount of work that goes into just one project.

Technology and me don’t tend to get on but I managed to conquer all before me and Leonora was always there if I didn’t know what to do or when I feared I had broken something important, luckily it was only the chair (which I fixed, honestly!). Sometimes you get bogged down with reports, as I did with Tir Gofal, but finishing a list is a good feeling. It’s not just typing on computers; there’s drawing polygons on computers and the joy of all joys, scanning. Be warned spirally binder machine is pure evil but I managed to tame it. I was often summoned by my fellow volunteers to confront the machine and I won!

Seriously though overall the experience was fantastic and I would recommend Access to Archaeology to anyone interested in archaeology or just curious. It’s well worth volunteering. It’s a rewarding experience and the people are lovely (especially Leonora). Get volunteering soon or all the Cardiff Uni students will have invaded again J

Joanna Davies, A2A Volunteer and Cardiff University Student

Volunteering in the HER by Liberty Vaz Townsend

I volunteered for 3 weeks in July and August 2014 at GGAT as part of my Cardiff University BSc Archaeology degree with two other students. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. On my first day the HER looked daunting, but explanation and help from Leonora when we got down to work made it a lot easier and by the end of the two weeks I had no questions. I got to do the whole process from inputting reports into the HER, using GIS via Map Info, working in the Archive and scanning the reports. The former was very interesting, the latter-well to put it this way I will be having nightmares about the spirally binding machine-.

I came across some very interesting sites while working, and my enthusiasm for castles was encouraged by Leonora who gave me some amazing castles, one of which I ended up visiting on my way home! The disappearing church has to be a highlight-I roped in the other students and after half an hour of research it had been located in three different places, and actually not in our area. I am also very proud of the fact I can now type 'Archaeological' without making a typo!

I would love to come back and volunteer again this year and I would recommend GGAT to my coursemates at Cardiff.

Liberty Vaz Townsend, Cardiff University Archaeology Student & A2A Volunteer

Volunteering in the HER by Matthew Savagar

I volunteered at Access to Archaeology as part of my placement at GGAT for my degree in archaeology and medieval history at Cardiff University, I spent two weeks of my time here down in the HER cave with Leonora and two other volunteers and had no idea what to expect when I arrived, the whole experience was brilliant and though I chafed at being in an office all day, Leonora made the whole two weeks incredibly fun. In understanding HER, Access to Archaeology was incredibly enlightening to how archaeology works in the real world, in the way reports are written and the planning process and how commercial archaeology functions on a day-to-day basis.

There were many great moments shared between us as well, the horrors of pipelines, my obsession with polygons, arguments with the spiraly binder machine and of course; the mystery of the vanishing church. For anyone intimidated by the IT side of things, don’t be, once its explained and you get into it, it’s very simple and a great way to improve your skills and knowledge in that department, all in all, I’d recommend the programme to anyone interested in it, or just looking for something to volunteer in, I myself am very tempted to volunteer again later in the year.

Matthew Savagar, Cardiff University student, A2A volunteer, lover of polygons, hater of pipelines and arch-nemesis of the spirally binder machine.