Chair’s Letter – April 2026
Dear Friends
Out with March and in with April, four seasons in a day. That said it really feels like spring with daffodils on the road sides, and in our gardens, as well as early flowering tulips giving lots of colour, even on a dull weather day.
Now I have to confess I am writing this letter late, having excelled myself last month by sending in my letter a couple of days before the deadline. I knew it was too good to last, back to the normal me, last minute Julie. My excuses? I have been busy, preparing for the AGM and writing my annual chair’s report, so much writing when really talking is my speciality, as most of you will know .
So, what has been happening since my last letter? Well, we had the quiz night, a very popular event with many teams and a lot of brain power. There were prizes for both the winners and the losers, testing our knowledge and making the little grey cells work extra hard. Thank you Ian for all your hard work in devising the quiz and Sue for organising and managing the event.
On 24th March Hazel held a Convenors’ meeting to bring us up to date and answer all those queries we have. It was a great opportunity to share our knowledge, experiences and tips. Hazel had done a lot of work regarding insurance, Health & Safety, and managing the groups’ monies. A very useful meeting.
So, what local events did I take advantage of this last month? I went to one of the Barnard Castle Library talks, this was given by a member of DCC’s department who works with both local detectorists and archaeologists. The talk was called Portable Antiques, and focussed on the typical historical items detectorists discover, broaches, pins, flints and tools, as well as the way these finds can help identify historical sites for further archaeology investigation.
Then Easter weekend I went with friends to the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the Bowes, thoroughly enjoyable and well worth a visit. Then lastly on Easter Monday we headed west and enjoyed the sunshine at Lowther Castle Gardens.
Just in case you remembered, I was practising madly for the Community Choir concert last month. Well, I survived and enjoyed the concert. On to the summer concert now, non-stop music and lots of lovely tunes.
As usual I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the next monthly meeting and catching up with all that you have been doing.
Bye for now
Julie