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No. 26 September 99

Monthly Newsletter

Tribute to a Gentleman

It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of one of the founder members of the Archaeology Society, Bill Nuttall, who died on Tuesday 20th July aged 69.  He had been suffering from a variety of illnesses over the past few years.  But despite everything, he remained cheerful and had always tried to make an appearance at our society meetings.  Our thought go out to is wife, Margaret and his family.  The packed funeral service was held on Friday 24th at the Gidlow Methodist church in Buckley Street.

Foundation

Bill was an insurance inspector but his strong interest in history and archaeology had gained him an honours degree in Roman History.  When I first met him, nearly twenty years ago, we were both doing an ‘O’ level course in archaeology at Wigan Tech.  As part of the course we spent a few days in Salisbury visiting such famous sites as Stonehenge and Maiden Castle.  It was from this course that the idea of an archaeological society was born, and in the summer of 1982 we had our first meeting in the Minorca Hotel in Wigan.  (WADAS – the Wigan and District Archaeology Society.)

Bill Nuttall

In those days we were very enthusiastic, having a meeting and a committee meeting as well as a trip out every month.  We went as far afield as Hadrian’s wall and Lincoln, and in the summers of 1983 and 1984 we had a full week’s holiday, the first in Glastonbury and the second in mid Wales.

By the mid eighties the society was in decline having exhausted all sites to visit within easy reach.  The membership was down to just a hand-full and meetings were held in somebody’s front room.  Bill always remained active and when he could, he took every opportunity to get on excavations.  At that time I was doing a course in archaeology at Manchester University and Bill came along to the weekend excavation, which I had to supervise as part of my course work.  The weather was poor and the site was on Offa’s Dyke in mid-Wales – not the most interesting from an archaeological point of view, but we learned a lot about flood control and water management!  We also spent a week together on the Castleshaw Roman fort excavations near Oldham and some days at Ribchester where excavations were being carried out in the area around the granaries.

Reformation

In 1987 the society was reformed under the auspices of the Greater Manchester Archaeology Unit, who were active in the Wigan area at the time.  With a new lease of life the society managed to complete its first excavation on the Roman road at Brimlow farm just north of Wigan.  (It was at that time we lost the ‘and District’ from our title).  Unfortunately this new enthusiasm did not last long and by the end of 1990 we were in crisis again when the whole committee resigned en mass.

That was when Bill stepped in as ‘temporary’ treasurer, a job he kept up until the last few years.  He was made Honoury Treasurer in 1996 and up to last year we still held committee meetings at his house (which reminds me of a meeting there which included myself (Bill), Bill Dawber, Bill Cawley and of course Bill – very confusing).

Bill has seen the society through thick and thin and it is in no small way due to his efforts that the society has survived for so long.  He will be greatly missed by all members who knew him.

Next Meeting

(Wednesday 1st September at the our new venue the BP Centre in Greenough Street at 7.30 pm as usual.)  This month’s speaker is John Johnson who will be giving us his famous talk on ‘The Great Belzoni – the worlds first Egyptologist’.  Belzoni was a 19th century strongman from Padua in Italy who tried selling a water-powered lifting device to the Egyptians.  When this failed, he turned his attentions to the wealth of antiques and monuments scattered up and down the land.  In the following few years he retrieved countless numbers of these and discovered some of the world’s most fascinating tombs and temples.  This is John’s favourite subject and one not to be missed.

Hope to see you there - B.A.