MY METAL DETECTING DAYS
Was I too old at 76 to go on a weekend metal detecting rally?
That was the question I asked myself when, back in July 2024, when Neil Bradley, a fellow member of the Crewe and Nantwich Metal Detecting Society, asked me if I would be going to the September Baumber Weekend Rally, in Lincolnshire? Don’t get me wrong, since I‘ve been metal detecting, it was something I had on my bucket list, but unfortunately, camping has never appealed to me as slugs, snails, and earwigs are not my favorite bedtime companions, and family commitments had first call on my time. But that weekend rally was still on my bucket list…
After I put the phone down from Neil, I did some thinking, my personal circumstances had changed so with a little research on the internet I found that Horncastle, which is nearby, had some very reasonable places to stay, why not book in for a few nights and travel to the venue each day? Within an hour, I had booked three nights at The Laurels, Bed and Breakfast. I then booked in with the rally organiser’s. I was finally going to my Weekend Metal Detecting Rally.
I rang Neil and told him the news, he was as pleased as I was going, adding that in total, fifteen of our club members were also going, which was even better, most were camping, but some like me were staying locally. Also, Neil was looking at booking an evening meal for us all on the Thursday night before the rally started on the Friday at the nearby Durham Ox. It was time to get excited, and I did…
They say that planning is part of the journey, which for me was true. In no time, I had a list of what I would need, clothes, equipment, food etc., and I set about gathering it together during the following weeks. My excitement levels were rising.
My metal detecting equipment
When I took up metal detecting some fourteen years ago, I tried a couple of different detectors, but I finally opted for the Deus 1 system with the remote and WS4 headphones. The main reason if I’m honest is because of the lightness of the Deus 1 and as being someone with neck and shoulder problems, the other detectors I used first aggravated my problems because of the weight of them, so the Deus was the answer and after ten years of using the Deus 1, I have finally bonded with it and now I stick to two main go-to programs - the DEEP and the HOT, with occasional modifications depending on the condition of the fields. I do occasionally use a modified HOT program, which I found on a Gary Blackwell YouTube video. I have these three programs, back-to-back, in the spare programs list on the remote, so I can easily switch between them as I’m detecting.
I primarily use the DEEP and if I get a good left to right diagonal signal on the XY screen I flip to the HOT program to define the signal more as those who use the DEEP program know that you can get a good signal for iron and non-ferrous, so flipping to the HOT again on the XY screen it will tell me if it’s worth digging or not. I’ve been using this combination now for three years, and it certainly works for me.
Will I ever update to the Deus 11?
Probably not, don’t get me wrong, I have seen some fabulous finds found with the Deus 11 on club rallies and YouTube videos, ‘The Scottish Detectorist’ springs to mind as the Deus 11 seems to be a silver hoover in those truly glorious fields of Perthshire, but as someone in their late seventies another five years or so of getting used to the Deus 11? No, I’ll stick to my little Deus 1, it has served me well over the years. Although I do still occasionally get neck pain as I get older, the little harness I have with me at all times works well if it’s needed.
Another reason I chose the Deus was that Regton’s is just down the road in Birmingham (I’m based in North Staffordshire), so it was to Regton’s I went for my Deus setup, and their advice was very welcome. They also do repairs for Deus equipment and recently I had to make use of that service, which was down to my fault by the way, a quick phone call to the Tech/Repair guys and an explanation of the problems, their response ‘No problem’ and within a few days I was back out detecting. They have never let me down, believe me, as you get older, those words ‘No problem’ are like music to your ears, trust me.
Over the years, I have managed to gather together a second Deus1 kit through buying some secondhand equipment, and by selling my first detectors, I purchased a second remote from Regtons. The reason being, is that I am a strong believer in the principle of ‘one’s none, two’s one. By this I mean that should my original Deus kit fail for any reason, including such events, such as my own clumsiness, (which has happened), I always have a backup, a Plan B, and early this year this paid off and kept me detecting. But back to the rally.
Thursday, September the fifth arrived, and I set off in plenty of time, and thankfully, the journey was easy and free from delays. I arrived earlier than planned, so I decided to visit the rally site to get my bearings. The rally site was just off the main road running through Baumber, and the well-positioned rally signs led me straight to the site. I introduced myself to Don Malkin, the main organiser of the rally, and booked in. I also decided to pay for an extra day – Sunday. Several club members had already arrived, so I made my way to the club flag, which Neil had put up, and was to become the meeting point for our club members. Still too early to book in at Laurel Lodge, I decided to visit Horncastle, where I spent an hour or so, which included a visit to the lovely church of St Mary’s. As a lover of history, churches to me are full of it, the older the church, the better, and St Mary’s was well worth the visit.
After finally booking in at Laurel Lodge, which turned out to be very homely and comfortable bed and breakfast establishment, I travelled back to the rally site to collect Neil and we made our way to the Durham Ox to meet with the others for a meal, which as vegetarian, the wild mushroom pie was very tasty. Most of the group went for the Beef Pie, which everyone said was excellent. A huge desert of Lemon Drizzle cake with ice cream followed for me which I can seriously recommend, and then back to the rally site to drop Neil off (we saw a young fallow deer in the headlights, so we stopped until it found its way into the woods), and then to Laurel Lodge to prepare for my first weekend rally day one….
Day one of the rally
It took me ten minutes to travel from Laurel Lodge to the rally site, and I could see the club campers on the other side, near the flag. I made my way there and set about getting myself geared up before the pre-rally talk. I have a mental checklist for getting ready to detect – spare battery for probe (one’s none, two’s one, you get the picture), gloves, water, snack bars, camera, phone, hat, water spray, small brush, small magnifying glass, painkillers (it’s the age thing), harness, spade, all checked, car locked and keys safe in rucksack and we are ready go.
The pre-rally talk was brief; maps were given out of the fields available for the day, seven in total, so plenty to go at. We all made our way over the lane to the first field, and I have to own up to having a bit of a ‘moment’ as I set about ground balancing my machine. I realised that I was only here because I no longer had certain personal ‘responsibilities’, but I knew ‘they’ were with me as I set off on a stubble field in glorious autumn sunshine, surrounded by fellow detectorists, each of us seeking that first sweet signal to dig.
Well, I have to admit my first day wasn’t very rewarding finds-wise, just one item which looked interesting, but nothing else. I managed to visit three fields out of the seven, and most of the people I chatted to had found something of interest, mostly Roman coins. Soon the organiser’s Facebook page was filling up with photos of the finds of the day, and impressive they were, but I wasn’t disheartened, and tomorrow was another day. Neil Bradley had had a brilliant day finding two Elizabethan hammered, a shilling, and a sixpence, which we were pleased for him as they were his first hammered coins of the year.
Day two
Overnight rain and the warmth from the previous day gave a ‘season of mist and mellow fruitfulness’ scenario as we made our way to the fields, very atmospheric, in it’s own way. I had told myself that today I would find Roman. That's all I wanted, a Roman coin, even a Roman grot, but today would be my Roman coin day… Well by 2.00pm, and after visiting three of the six fields and seeing all the ‘Roman’ items others had found, I was getting a little downhearted, as my finds did not match my wishes. Thankfully, during the lunch break back at the rally HQ, fellow club member John Cookson said that several Roman grots had come up near the entrance to a ploughed field. So, while others had given up for the day, I changed to the HF elliptical coil and put it onto 74 Khz, as recommended by Steve Rigby, another club member, who said that frequency, it loves small items, and with that I set off to that field determined to find my Roman. I think I said something to the effect that I wouldn’t be back until I had found a Roman coin…
It was a bit of a trek to the field, and I stopped to speak to another detectorist heading back, and he showed me his Saxon coin, which we had heard about on the rally grapevine. What a beautiful coin. Needless to say, he also has some Roman, which had come from the ploughed field I was heading to. This made me more determined; I began muttering to myself as I walked, ‘I will find Roman; I will find Roman…)
My first signal in the ploughed field, just ten yards into it? Yes, my first Roman coin, a little toasted minim, but a Roman, none the less. This was followed by another coin and a fragment of a fibula, I had my bit of Roman, and I was happy. I was beaming when I got back to the ‘gang,’ and everyone was pleased for me. Soon the talk got around to the finds being posted on Facebook, a gold stater, a silver stater, Roman fibulae, a bronze age axe head, a woad grinder, hammered coins, the list was endless. What a brilliant day.
Day three…
This was my last day; I was travelling back home in the evening, although for some, there was still another rally day. We had ten fields to detect on, but there was no way I would be able to visit them all, so I stayed on just three fields, close to where we had parked our cars. Another glorious day weatherwise, and I chose a field which still had the large straw bales in it, why? because I love to see harvested fields with the bales still in them. But it was tough going, the stubble was about nine inches high, so my ‘detecting’ arm soon began to ache, and also nothing was happening signal-wise. So, I made my way down the field to go to the next one, when the best signal so far gave me Roman coin number three!!!!!. Ironically, if I had stayed in this field and made my way to the top right-hand corner, I would have found some serious items, which came up that day, never mind I still had my Romans.
Nothing much came up for me for the rest of the day apart from a 20p and some buttons. My weekend had finally ended at around 4.30pm, as most detectorists began to make their way back to the cars, each of us hoping for that very last sweet signal before switching off our machines. Was I happy? Oh yes indeed,I had found my Roman, and as to the question ‘Was I too old at 76 to go on a weekend metal detecting?’ No, for one of our club members at the rally, Barry Norman, is in his eighties and was camping and stayed for the four days, well done, Barry.
So, thanks to Don Malkin and his team for a brilliant time. This was their third year holding and hosting the Baumber Rally, I believe, and everyone I spoke to commented on how well it was organized. (I have never seen so many Portaloo’s, they were everywhere!!!)
So now I will be going to more ‘Weekend rallies', health permitting, and I can highly recommend the Baumber Rally. In this hobby, it’s always great to be with like-minded people getting together and having an enjoyable time, sharing, and congratulating each other on their finds, just as long as there’s a bit of Roman for me, I’ll be there……
