Flag Fen will be staging a Roman re-enactment event on the 4^th and 5^th May 2008 and for the first time in probably 1000 years a curragh, or ancient war boat, will be witnessed on the fens. Back by popular demand, Brtiannia will be entertaining audiences with their battles, weaponry and living history on the Sunday and Monday of May Bank holiday.

Battles between the settled Romano-British and invading Saxons will take place at 11am and 3pm on both days. In between visitors will be able to talk to re-enactors and wander the Roman crafts stalls.

Quintus, Peterborough’s very own Roman warrior will be available on both days to show visitors the vast array of weaponry a Roman Centurian had at his disposal.On the Sunday volunteers from Flag Fen will also run a have-a-go archery for young and old alike. The site will open at 10am and close at 5pm on both days. Special event prices apply and no discounts or free tickets are valid on this event.

Georgia Butters, General Manager says: “Our Romans event was so popular last year we broke attendance records and so this year we have extended the event to two days to avoid the queues and ensure that everyone has a great day out. “

She continues “and we are really excited that Britannia will be bringing a curragh with them. This ancient warboat is made out of animal hide and could carry many warriors - lets see if it can make it across our mere!”

For more details please visit www.flagfen.com

28 of March 2008

Twin Soay lambs have been born today at Flag Fen Archaeology Park.
Two lambs have already arrived and more are expected in the next few days. The lambs can be seen by visitors to Flag Fen so pop down and say hello!

Soay Sheep
Soay sheep would have been the type kept by people in the period between 2000 BC and 600 BC. This breed is the smallest and most primitive of the British sheep breeds. The wool of this sheep is shed naturally or can be plucked. All Soays today are descended from animals, which lived in a wild state on the Isle Of Soay, off the west coast of Scotland. The Soay is of great archaeological interest and their bones have been found at Flag Fen.

for more details of animals at Flag Fen please visit www.flagfen.com

CITY MP Stewart Jackson has urged the Government to cough up money to help a cash-strapped archaeological site near Peterborough.

Flag Fen opens its doors on the 1st of March for its 25th season. To celebrate we are FREE on Saturday 1st March and have a new exhibition - Feast of Fenland. Cookery demonstrations will happen throughout the day.

More details on www.flagfen.com

Iron Age roundhouse reconstruction

21 of Feb 2008

General Manager Georgia Butters called on Councillors, businesses and development agencies to support visitor operations and research at Flag Fen at the 25th Anniversary Reception. Read the full text of her speech below.

Georgia Butters & Julian Richards at Flag Fen

“So what of Flag Fen today?

In the last two years we have had unprecedented success with project funding for the site. Thanks to our Fundraising Officer Sharon Shortland whose post is funded by the Esmee Fairbairn foundation until September 2008, we have received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, WREN, Biffa Award and Barbara Whatmore Foundation to name but a few and to add to regular support from Anglian Water and the Peter Boizot Foundation.

“These funds have supported the employment of a Learning Officer and a Park Manager. Through the Learning Officer post we have developed a completely new education programme. The Programme focuses on Celtic life, our environment and citizenship and has provided inspirational activities for over 4000 school children. It has worked with Frog Life to support disadvantaged youngsters and with Peterborough Regional College to support teenagers with learning difficulties to develop skills for employment.

Our events programme has supported wide public access to the site, and developed new audiences resulting in the most bodies on site in one day ever!

“Our Park Manager has worked with teams of adults with learning difficulties and local unemployed people to develop conservation, gardening and maintenance skills and in so doing create new paths across the site to meet access requirements, new hedging for the Bronze Age Settlement and new natural fencing around our boundaries. As part of this project over 1000 new hedging plants and trees have been planted.

“On the archaeology side we are in the final phase of writing up the last 9 years of excavations here which will result in a new publication and additional displays on site and we have trained a new volunteer team to catalogue our collection whilst seeking specialist help with conservation and storage.

“Can you see a theme developing here? We are an organisation that embraces partnerships and one which is completely reliant on volunteer support. In 2007 30 volunteers gave over 5000 hours of their time, or 625 days to simply ensure that Flag Fen remains open to the public. And quite by accident we have discovered that by working with volunteers we support the elderly to live independently, we assist young people to get valuable work and life experience, we help volunteers who have taken a knock in life to get their confidence back and we offer unemployed volunteers a route back into employment.

But all of this is under threat from a lack of public transport and lack of funding for professional staff to co-ordinate the efforts of this team. In fact in 2007 we lost 1/3^rd of applicants for volunteer places because there is no bus service to this site.

Of our staff only I am funded by core revenue income. All of my 3 staff are entirely project funded. In fact in order to secure the team from 2009 onwards we need £150,000 per year, but we raise only £80,000 through admissions and associated activities. In fact in 2007 only £1000 of core revenue income stood between us and closure.

“So what of the future?

With support from the Heritage Lottery Fund we have completed a programme of review and planning resulting in our vision for the future. Flag Fen will become a vibrant centre for archaeological research, public exploration and social enterprise. We intend to work with a wide variety of partners to protect, discover and display this unique heritage, to develop new research facilities, to support traditional skills, to attract national and international star exhibitions, to inspire young and old alike and to harness the valuable contributions of a local population that can be proud of its heritage.

“We want to begin in our 25^th Anniversary Season by planning for a complete redisplay of the monument and artefacts including a partial reconstruction of the ritual causeway. The first 25 of these posts will be placed over the coming season by volunteers trained in ancient woodworking techniques. We are also acutely aware that time is running out to actually explore the monument here. Unsympathetic development, drainage and climate change are all doing their best to dry out waterlogged archaeology. As the waterlogging is the only thing protecting the monument we believe we have only 20 years left in which to explore it fully. And so in our 25^th Season we will agree the next 10 years of research to ensure that as much of the site is recorded before it is too late. Along with this we will finalise planning for a research centre on site that will provide developers and researchers with state of the art wetland archaeology facilities. But all of this needs a professional staff that has secure, sustained funding.

The first stage of securing this funding starts tonight -

In your packs you will find tickets for a Grand Draw. The first prize will be a solid silver pendant created by award winning designer Jacqueline Gruber Styger to celebrate our 25^th year. The design is based on the Flag Fen scabbard found here on site and made in 3^rd Century BC. Later in the year this design will be turned into a Flag Fen range of pewter jewellery by St. Justins of Cornwall and sold at outlets nationwide.

“Secondly this year sees the launch of our Archaeology in the UK training for construction engineers and developers. Anglian Water have already trialled this days training course with very positive results and we hope to generate much needed revenue funding. The course details are in your pack but in brief it enables participants to plan effectively for archaeology that might be found on a construction site, hopefully minimising risk to the budget and timetable when archaeology is found.

Thirdly we are developing corporate hire and training facilities and have entered into partnership with a local company to provide professional development and team building training here on site.

Finally tonight we launch our Corporate Membership Scheme giving national and local businesses the opportunity to invest in our future and celebrate our past. This scheme will provide benefits for members such as use of our meeting facilities whilst also providing much needed unrestricted funds to support staff at Flag Fen. I am delighted that Anglian Water could join us tonight as our first Premier Corporate Member.

So to conclude: The Trust has a tremendous opportunity to become a world class heritage centre and force for positive development in local lives. This can only be achieved with the drive and vision of our Trustees and significant financial commitment from those organisations who are promoting the development of Peterborough as a City for the 21^st Century. Together with a professional management team and dedicated support workers we can secure the survival of this internationally significant monument beneath our feet whilst supporting the growth and development of a skilled local population.

We have the vision…..we now need your support to deliver it.”

www.flagfen.com

1st - 14th March 2008.
Location: Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre
Time: 10am - 4pm

The Feast of Fenland is an exhibition celebrating Fenland food; past, present and future, From strawberries to sugar beet; potatoes to punt guns, and traction engines to tractors. Come along and see our Fens animation, children’s shopping trolley and old photographs of the Fens. From Saturday 1st March you can explore the fascinating story of Fenland food and the generations of people who have worked on the land by visiting Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre. The centre is open Tuesday to Sunday 10.00am – 4.00pm.

Admission to the exhibition is free.

For further information please view the website: http://www.flagfen.com

Polish migrant worker - Fenlands