West Sussex Liaison Group Meeting
- By Bruce Milton (December 2005)

On 1^st November this year, I attended the latest West Sussex Liaison Group meeting at the Marlipins Museum, Shoreham-on-Sea. The meeting, chaired by Liz Wilson the Finds Liaison Officer for Sussex was attended by the County Archaeologists and Museum curators together with several archaeological and metal detecting groups within West Sussex.

The meeting began with a very interesting and at times moving presentation on Archaeology on the Western Front by The Sussex Archaeological Society’s Research Officer, Luke Barber. He described a recent excavation, which discovered three soldiers who died in 1916 during the early days of the Battle of the Somme. 

The agenda included an update from Liz regarding the Portable Antiquities Scheme. She stated that over 500 non-treasure finds had been recorded on the database and that ten treasure cases have been reported since August this year.

 ‘The Portable Antiquities Scheme in Sussex’ touring exhibition was also discussed. Each exhibition includes finds made by local metal detectorists and recorded within the Scheme; it will be on display at the following places on the following dates:

•        Littlehampton Museum:  19^th November to 28^th January 2006

•        Chichester District Museum: between Feb – March 2006

•        Horsham Museum: Whole of April 2006

•        Crawley Museum: 9^th June – 1^st week in August 2006.

The Finds Agreement was also discussed and the document has now been approved by a legal adviser in East Sussex County Council. The agreement is for archaeological societies and professional units to use, if they want to use detectorists or amateur diggers on site.

This is the first time I have attended any of these meetings, so I did not know what to expect, however I found it very interesting and useful hearing the various activities the groups and societies have got up to in the year. It was also very interesting to hear about the activities carried out by the metal detecting groups and of their (in the main) interest in using their skills in assisting archaeological groups.