Grant to Help Set Up New Body to Support UK Metal Detectorists

                       Which way for British artefact hunting now?

 A £50,000 grant from Historic England is a step forward towards the setting up of a new organisation to support and train metal detectorists in the UK. Working with archaeologists and others in the heritage sector, the ‘Institute of Detectorists’ aims to provide training opportunities to promote responsible metal detecting [...] the feasibility study has the support of national bodies such as the Portable Antiquities Scheme, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Council for British Archaeology and Chartered Institute for Archaeologists. The detecting community will be consulted on a business plan which outlines the role of the Institute, the membership structure and the framework for the training programme which will be focused on heritage and conservation.

Well, it seems that there will be no official body from the detecting community to ask as the National Council for Metal Detectorists has refused to co-operate. Their loss.

So, which way will British artefact hunting turn as it reaches a crisis, towards beneficial co-operation in achieving the aims it has always claimed for itself, to preserve the past, or the harmful, self-centred antagonistic geriatric isolationism of the NCMD and its allies?