Major Historical Find made at the first annual Metal Detecting Day sponsored by Anton Rotary

Sunday 11th of September saw the first Anton Rotary Metal Detecting day held at Penton Mewsey, in Hampshire.

A number of Metal Detectives signed up and a 70 acre field was released for the day. The field had not been covered before and a number of interesting finds were recorded. A number of coins, one in particular thought to be from the early Roman period, were found along with some Saxon artifacts.

The weather was exceptionally kind and a great day out was enjoyed by both the explorers and Rotarians who looked on. A BBQ was provided and staffed during the day by willing members.

A major find was a brooch, the age of which is still to be defined but is thought to be from either the Roman or Saxon period. The archaeologist in attendance has indicated that this could be of major historical significance and may be valuable. The brooch is being cleaned and examined by the appropriate authorities and the outcome of their investigation should be known in approx. six - eight weeks.

Also found were a medallion and buckle thought also to be from the Saxon period.

Prizes were awarded for the best finds. Equerries were made as to the location and timing of next years event. It is hoped to hold it in the same area around May-June.

Date line September 2010

Local Andover School sponsored by Anton Rotary Club wins national Rotary Environmental Competition.

Portway Junior School was sponsored by Anton Rotary Club to enter the local Rotary District ‘Environment Awards for Schools - 2007’ competition.
The school entered a major project which they had been working on for about 2 years. ‘This involved developing the school grounds as an outdoor classroom. This was considered to be a means of teaching not only environmental awareness and good citizenship, but of effectively delivering other subject areas in the curriculum’.

This entry was considered worthy of being put forward by the district committee for entry into the national version of the competition.

Portway Junior not only won the schools prize but was considered to have the best overall project nationwide.

The prizes were presented by the President of RIBI at the national conference on the 15th of April at Bournemouth. The School was awarded the Rodney Huggins trophy, a cheque for £250 and the opportunity to build a garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show in 2007.

Dateline May 2007