On Simon Mercer's cutting in 1976

I think Becky Spencer must have been in the Girl Guides when she was little:  because here she is prepared for every form of weather possibility.  She is wearing a bikini but she's also got a green jumper tied round her waist, as well as gloves and a very fetching floppy hat.  You weren't going to catch this young woman out if it rained or if it shone.  I can't remember the name of the lad with a headband -- I don't know if Becky can help?  He is demonstrating a digging technique which I'd forgotten about, namely the excavation of a feature, probably a post-hole, whilst lying on one's front protected by a piece of foam rubber. I'd forgotten about the bits of foam rubber but they used to be quite keenly sought after because they made digging whilst prone much more comfortable for entirely obvious reasons.  I have a hunch that the left upper arm visible on the right of the photograph belongs to Mike Gething.

Dr Ferris & I hope not to hear from your solicitor ...

Dr Ferris chides: "I hope Crickley Hill Man can excuse my constant pedantry, but I think the recently-posted photo of Becky and Mike is from 1977.

 

Mike, a very pleasant chap and a very good digger I recall, was also known as 'The Bolton Wanderer', for no other reason than he hailed from Bolton. Other good Crickley nicknames, or at least ones that Crickley Hill Man can print without fear of prosecution, were 'Biggles' (Dave Southwood), 'Mike the Whale' (already referred to on your site), 'The Tipton Slasher' (not Robert Roberts, but another Tipton digger named after the famous local pugilist) and, best and most obtuse of all, 'Training' who came from, I think, Derby but first appeared wearing a sweatshirt with TRAINING written across the chest. I don't think I ever knew his real name but he was amenable enough to be generally referred to by everyone as 'Training' and indeed enjoyed almost minor celebrity status because of this. You already have posted a photo of 'Training' on the blog.

 

Becky Spencer, really Carole Ann Spencer, came from Skipton and was at Crickley in 1976 and 1977. She went on to study archaeology at Cardiff, I think. She was a very charismatic character who in 1976 had had the opportunity to see many of the early Punk bands play in the north and in that respect was very much ahead of the rest of us in knowing what was going on musically at the time, probably with the exception of Simon Mercer." 

From summer 1976 ...

Iain's memory of the Sports Day posted here caused me to find this photo of Becky Spencer, with whom in the wheelbarrow he won the race. Here she is with Mike Gething, both happily pausing from their labours for a minute. The Neolithic ditch and bank is in the background behind them.

The speck of foliage visible on the right hand side of the picture is, I think, on a hornbeam in the shadow of which I put a trowel in the ground for the very first time under the kindly eye of Simon Mercer. On my second day I found what I now know to be a perfect flint arrowhead. I wasn't completely sure what it was so I showed it to a man I was sure knew more about these things than I did, Mr Robert Roberts.

The Son of Tipton's reply went like this "******* Hell! You ******* lucky *******! I've been digging for ******* years and I've never ******* found one of those.  You jammy ***! You turn up like the ******* fairy on the top of the ******* Christmas tree, put your brand new ******* trowel in the ****** ground ******* once and ******* pull that out! Why did I ******* give you that ******* strip to dig?"

I could tell he was pleased that I'd found the arrowhead.  My vocabulary grew by the hour.  I was pleased I'd found it too - I've never found another one!

Think this is 1976, but might be 1977 ...

A cutting uncharacteristically messy when I compare it with most of my photographs,
with, L to R, (?) Max Glaskin, John Parry, Unknown, Mike Gething with the entrance through the ramparts behind them.

"If that's me, and unfortunately it does appear to be so, then I believe it must have been 1977, when tatty shorts were the height of fashion.
Max."