Times Past
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"What can it be, I wonder?" Pam talks about metal detecting and how her finds provide an intriguing insight into the past.
Transcript
My hobby is metal detecting.
I go out in all winds and weathers to farmland, beaches and friends' gardens, sweeping the ground with my detector.
I wait with baited breath for the bleep that will tell me that something interesting lies in the ground.
"What can it be?" I wonder as I dig.
I enjoy the treasures I find - not for any monetary value - but for the flights of fancy I associate with them.
When I first find something, I hold it in my hand, close my eyes and the object takes on a life of its own as I create a story around it.
I wonder who was the last person to hold it ... how they were dressed ... what they were doing at the time they lost it and how they lived.
I then see vivid scenes from the past.
Holding a musket ball I will hear the tramping of soldiers in their uniforms, as they depart for bloody battles leaving their weeping women behind.
Gazing at a decorative Georgian shoe buckle, I fancy I see the swirl of ladies' skirts at some grand ball.
Period music.
A rusty knife takes me into the kitchen of a huge manor house where, like a child opening the door of a doll's house, I peer invisible into every room, witnessing the life within.
Background noise - children talking.
Surrounded by my collection of treasures I know that I'm really a time traveller, and my metal detector ... it's my time machine.
An interview with the author
What's your story about?
It's about my hobby, metal detecting. It brings out my love of history and how the past - its people and objects - can go on living today within the imagination, re-creating days gone by. The artefacts I find when metal detecting remind me of the past and seem to come to life in their own right - in a strange and mysterious way!
Why did you choose to tell this particular story?
I think it will be of interest to other people and I enjoyed telling this story very much. It may start some people 'metal detecting' and has a surprise twist at the end of the story.
What was the workshop like?
I regard it as a 'golden opportunity' in my life. I was able to meet and work with a group of interesting people. I learnt a tremendous amount and particularly enjoyed the storytelling circle.
