The Friends of the Colchester Archaeological Trust (FCAT) is a thriving members group which the Trust established in 1977. We have been hosting the FCAT web-pages on our web-site but, recently, they set up their own web-site. This is maintained by FCAT member Geoff Baister, who is also the father of Trust archaeologist Mark Baister! The new FCAT web-site includes details of upcoming events, reports on past events, membership details, contact details, and useful web-links (including the Trust’s web-site!). The new FCAT web-site is at http://focat.org.uk/ .
The FCAT web-site home page is headed ‘The Friends of The Colchester Archaeological Trust / Supporting the Trust’ and they say: ‘… The Friends of the Colchester Archaeological Trust was founded in 1977 and now has well over 400 members. The Friends is a support group for the Trust and provides members with regular information about the excavation and recording of Colchester’s rich archaeological heritage …’. FCAT members receive regular newsletters and can attend an annual lecture on recent archaeological work by the Trust in Colchester, as well as go on FCAT excursions: when it is possible, they can also participate in guided tours of Trust sites. The Trust, of course, is a limited company and a registered charity. FCAT is run by a committee which is elected at the AGM. Current FCAT committee members include Mike Corbishley, Brenda May, Nick Hines, Mark Davies, Geoff Baister, and Trust director Philip Crummy.
At this great new development by FCAT, it is interesting to look back at the very beginning… The Trust holds an archive which includes the first issue of the Catalogue, a newsletter which we published twice a year, starting in summer 1977. Issue ‘number 1’ included an insert in the centrefold which reads:
‘… THE FRIENDS OF THE COLCHESTER ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST
The excavations at Colchester are continually discovering new and exciting information about the history of the town. The Colchester Excavation Committee [the Trust] has long felt that there should be a more effective means of keeping everyone who is interested in touch with what is going on, and of giving a wider opportunity to them to support the work. The Friends have therefore been set up to meet this need …’
The insert combines an application form and this blurb. The blurb goes on to mention the FCAT annual lecture! In summer 1977, the Trust was conducting our large area excavation on the Butt Road site in Colchester (now the police station). The Catalogue number 1 already carries the Trust’s charioteer, chariot and horses logo and, remarkably, it includes a note titled ‘Roman spectator sports in Colchester’: ‘… Recent discoveries from Balkerne Lane have turned our attention to sport and entertainment during the Roman period. The chief Roman spectator sports were gladiatorial combat and chariot-races. The latter were held in circenses, such as the Circus Maximus in Rome … During the excavations in Balkerne Lane depictions of both gladiators and chariot-racing have been found …’. The Trust is a thriving field unit and Colchester is an important archaeological site. It is as true now as it was then, that we are still ‘continually discovering new and exciting information’ about Colchester – in 2004, we identified the remarkable site of the Roman circus here… In 2012 we moved into Roman Circus House, which abuts the site of the circus, and opened our circus visitor centre.
FCAT hold their committee meetings here at the Roman circus centre. Last year, they organised a popular lecture about the archaeology of London here at the circus centre and they are now organising another lecture, for 2017. Their next outing is to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (on Saturday 22nd October 2016). A date to look out for is the FCAT AGM, which takes place on Saturday 11th February 2017, when the morning AGM at the Roman circus centre is followed by an afternoon ‘tea and talks’ session of illustrated talks by Trust archaeologists about the Trust’s work during the previous year, including tea! This is held at Lion Walk Church in Colchester town centre and is open to everyone.
Read more about FCAT on their new web-site at http://focat.org.uk/about-us/ . If you are interested in joining FCAT, then please go to http://focat.org.uk/why-not-join-us/ .
The images show the home page of the new FCAT web-site, the front cover of Catalogue number 1, and the FCAT blurb on the insert.
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