Our Christmas party this year will take place on Tuesday 12 December at St Hugh’s Church Hall, Monks Road, Lincoln, commencing at 7pm. The cost will be £12 (no increase on last year) to include drinks, and the catering as usual will be provided by Hilary Hardman.

Musical entertainment this year will be in the hands of local archaeologist and folk-music hero Tom Lane, together with (provisionally) his colleague at Heritage Lincolnshire David Start.

Numbers are strictly limited, so please reserve your place as soon as possible by completing the application form and returning it together with your cheque (made out to ‘FLARE’) to FLARE, c/o DDES (Planning), 5th Floor City Hall, Beaumont Fee, Lincoln, LN1 1DF. Click here for the form.

THE BIG TRIP

The 2007 joint FLARE/SLHA tour will be to the Essex/Suffolk border. I originally thought of going north next year but after Phillip Crummy's talk to FLARE in May about the recently discovered Roman Circus at Colchester the demand was overwhelming. I had no choice but make a trip south to find out for myself. The tour will be over the weekend of Friday July 6th - Monday July 9th. If, like me, you missed the past two Waddington Air shows, rest easy, Waddington is the previous weekend. I couldn't face missing three in a row.

We will be based at the University of Essex at Wivenhoe, just outside Colchester, on the River Wensum. The Friday visit will be to Orford and Orford Ness. The ferry to Orford Ness is booked for 12.20 so bring your own picnic. Orford Ness started with a World War I airfield and stayed under military control as a weapons development site including the testing of the non-nuclear parts of nuclear bombs. Now it is owned by the National Trust and is a combination of nature reserve and monument to the Cold War. It is an extensive site and we have booked a guided tour with tractor and trailer for 24; the rest of us will walk. Those who do not want to go across to the Cold War site can stay in Orford village which has a medieval castle, a museum and an interesting church. After Friday's exertions the evening will be free.

We will spend all day Saturday in and around Colchester. In the morning we will visit the castle and its museum including a guided tour. The castle is on Roman foundations. It is in the centre of the town and there is a tea room in the grounds of the adjacent park. After lunch Phillip will join us and give us a tour that will include sites around the town including the site of the Roman circus - although there is not much to see there. In the evening we will be joined by local historian Andrew Phillips who, for the industrial archaeologists, wrote the history of Paxman diesels, but his talk will be on more than industrial archaeology.

On Sunday, if all goes to plan, we will start at the Woodbridge Tide Mill. They may be closed if the Heritage Lottery Fund contribute to their restoration plan. Then on to Sutton Hoo where we will have a guided tour. Sutton Hoo has a large restaurant so no packed lunches today either. Our final visit of the day will be to Bawdsey Transmitter Block where the museum tells the story of the development of radar in World War 2. Without the work at Bawdsey Manor we may well have not won the war. The story deserves to be better known. The museum is run by a group of enthusiasts and is well worth the visit.

On Sunday we will start the day at Beth Chatto's Garden which is close to the University. There is always something of interest to see in the garden and there is plenty of choice in their plant centre. The second visit on the way home will be to Framlingham to see its castle and the famous organ in the parish church. You will be able to buy lunch in the village. Our final stop will be The Long Shop Museum at Leiston. The Long Shop, Grade II* listed was the home of Garrett's, well known for their steam engines. It was also the home of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson who founded the first women's hospital. There is something for everyone here with industrial, social and military history on display.

The leaflet should be available towards the end of the year when we have completed the planning and the associated costings.

Ken Hollamby

TALKS

I am in the process of compiling next year’s lecture programme. In the meantime, here are those for the early part of next year.

24 January: Mick Jones, ‘Hillside Highlights: The Lower Walled City at Lincoln.’

28 February: Mark Pearce, ‘Bronze Age Metalwork from the River Trent.’

21 March: Richard Buckley, ‘Recent Excavations in Leicester’ (deferred from September).

25 April: Mike Hodder, ‘Archaeology in Birmingham: revealing the hidden history’.

There will be further details in our usual January newsletter. In the meantime don’t forget another talk on an exotic site on 8 November.

Mick Jones