Colchester Young Archaeologists’ Club: May meeting at the Roman circus centre

On Saturday (21st May), the Colchester Young Archaeologists’ Club (YAC) were back at the Roman circus centre for their May meeting.

Colchester YAC organiser Barbara Butler writes: ‘… The YAC members enjoyed some warm-up games, including thinking up historical figures whose names begin with the letter ‘B’ and a game of ‘Roman whispers’. Then we split into groups. Jessica Dowdell of Colchester and Ipswich Museums took one group to remind them of the curatorial skills which they will need in Colchester Castle Museum on the 18th June. Colchester Archaeological Trust and YAC volunteer Gillian Brown showed the other group how to make Roman jewellery, which is one of the activities planned for the Colchester YAC fun day here at the Roman circus centre on Saturday 16th July. This activity was so popular that the YAC members in this group were reluctant to swap over with the other group! However, planning to make a Lego model of the carceres (starting-gates) of the Roman circus was a tempting alternative. It seems that we have a ‘Team Lego’ in the Colchester YAC, some of the members of which were keen to design the model, while other members made calculations for the number and types of bricks required. Both activities were very popular but, eventually, we all got back together to work out a press release for the media about our fun day. The press release is likely to begin “The Romans return…”. Some of the YAC members suggested that our fun day will be the first of many… Members took copies of the posters they had designed for the event to put up in their schools and, as usual, it was time to go home before we realised it …’.

The images show Jessica with one group and Gillian with the other group, here at the Roman circus centre on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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If you are aged under 17 and interested in joining the Young Archaeologists’ Club in Colchester, then please contact Barbara Butler on 07808 968766 or at barbara[at]peterbutlerdesign.co.uk or Barbara Butler, Colchester YAC Branch, c/o the Colchester Archaeological Trust, Roman Circus House, Roman Circus Walk, Colchester, Essex CO2 7GZ.

The National Young Archaeologists’ Club web-site is at www.yac-uk.org/ .

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