Colchester YAC at Roman Circus House: December meeting

The Colchester’s Young Archaeologists’ Club (YAC) had their last meeting of the year at Roman Circus House on Saturday (14th December).

Colchester YAC organiser Barbara Butler writes: ‘… The young people discussed two of their projects in 2013. In April, they had taken part in the Wormingford Landmarks project and each was able to take home a copy of the report on the finds, some of which they had helped to analyse. As part of the Arts Award Explore project, the Colchester YAC had looked at the many pictures created by Peter Froste at Roman Circus House. They had many questions for him, which he was delighted to answer. The young people found out that Peter had been painting and drawing since he was a boy in Great Bardfield, Essex, where a group of artists lived. His great friend there was the well-known artist Richard Bawden. Peter described himself as an illustrator rather than an artist. But, when it was put to the vote, most of Colchester YAC decided that he was an artist. It was an interest in archaeology which started Peter on his career. His first commission came from Philip Crummy of the Colchester Archaeological Trust, when they met on an archaeological dig. Peter said that he paints and draws every day, sometimes all day. He does not expect to do many more historic reconstruction paintings as, he said, they are much easier to do with computer-generated imaging. He did ask the young people to let him know about any new information they might find from digs, especially mosaics, which he can take reference from. He wished the young people luck with their project.

Having looked at two of our 2013 projects, it was time for party games, with museum objects Bingo and a pass-the-parcel which included historical mimes in each layer, starting in the 20th century and finishing in the Stone Age …’

The image shows members of Colchester YAC and supervisors in their costumes on Saturday, in the large ground-floor room at Roman Circus House.

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The next meeting of the Colchester YAC will be at Roman Circus House in January 2014.

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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, off Circular Road North, Colchester, Essex CO2 7GZ.

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

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