"Metal detectorists" in Wales are organized into clubs which may be affiliated with one of the two national organizations, the NCMD or FID. It is through these clubs that the PAS meets most of the "metal detectorists" in a region and has some possibility of getting across its main messages about responsible artefact hunting and instil best practice. It is through them that it should be propagating the officially sanctioned "Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales"There are a number of these clubs in Wales but it is quite instructive to see how they approach the problem of defining what is, and what is not, "responsible metal detecting":
Brecon Metal detecting club this refers only to the NCMD Code (which is not an adequate measure of "responsible detecting" and which the official code was intended to replace.
Cardiff Scan Club (No code mentioned)
Carmarthenshire Metal Detecting Club (no website - no code?)
Forest of Dean Metaldetecting Club (NCMD Code of Conduct)
Glamorgan Metal Detecting Club (No webpage? No Code)
The Great Orme Metal Detectors Club (no webpage, no code)
Gwent Detecting Club (No code mentioned)
Gwynedd Recovery and Search Society (No website, no code)
The Historical Search Society (Mold) (NCMD Code [warning using the rolling text website can damage your eyes])
Llanelli Metal Detecting Club (no website, no code)
Neath/ Port Talbot Metal Detecting Club (no code mentioned, "professional") You Tube.
North Wales Detecting Club www.northwalesmd.co.uk
see also: http://ml-in.facebook.com/group.php?gid=283238425348&v=wall&viewas=0 no mention of a code anywhere.
Pembrokeshire Prospectors Metal Detecting Club Club has its own "Code of conduct", based on NCMD one (article 2 is incomplete, and there is no mention there of the PAS)
Rhondda Artefacts and Research Enthusiasts (RARE) No Code of Conduct, the "rules" state that..." 7. Each member will be given a copy of rules of Treasure Trove" (sic). No mention of any Code of Conduct for Responsible Detecting.
Swansea Metal Detecting Club no code as such, in the (rather odd) "club rules", the club "advises"...
Wrexham Metal Detecting Club (no website, no code)
The Wrexham Heritage Society (No mention of a Code of Conduct).
We therefore have the entirely unsatisfactory situation that not a single metal detecting club in Wales can be found (unless I missed one) which promotes the accepted "Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales" which defines what can, and cannot be considered "responsible detecting". In other words, all the Welsh clubs have turned their backs on this definition and go their own way. Since one of the fundamental tenets of the Code is that as a minimum the "responsible metal detectorist" reports all recordable finds to the Portable antiquities Scheme, it would seem that the majority of the "metal detectorists" in Welsh clubs do not see reporting anything to the PAS as necessary as even a minimum requirement to be a "responsible metal detectorist".
Vignette: a secret metal detectorists' handskake?
Gwent metal Detecting Club has a thread on this blog, http://www.gwentdetecting.co.uk/index.php?topic=5438.msg60390;topicseen
ReplyDeleteHere "Sexy legs" (the first fan of Candice Jarman) writes : "None of his links seem to work for the Code of Practice". Well, I checked it in the post discussing it just now and it worked for me. You have to wait for it to download.
REALLY telling is the next two bits:
"so I Googled it instead" (ie I had no idea where else to find it even though its been out a couple of years and Gwent has an FLO visiting quite frequently doing "outreach") and:
"Edited to add: I've also put a link to it on the main page in the Reference section. It seems like a useful guide so why not?"
Why not indeed, can't do any harm can it? So ONE club actually now, rather belatedly has put it on its website as a "guide". Whoopee.