Frank Basford, one of the longest serving (if not the longest) serving FLOs is retiring. He looked after finds made by the public on the Isle of Wight and made a great success of it, so much so that the IoW was often used as a case study in various projects involving PAS data. I'm sad to see him go., one of the more decent FLOs.
The Isle of Wight Council said: "We are grateful for and acknowledge Frank's many years of valuable service. “We are in the process of appointing a replacement.” Until a new person is appointed, Islanders are told to hold on to their finds.
Or perhaps desist from digging them up until a mechanism is in place to get them responsibly recorded.
UPDATE 2nd December 2020
The post is only now being advertised. .
4 comments:
The vacancy was closed by the Isle of Wight Council. No replacement has been sought since 2020. Why is there no replacement being sought by anyone? I suggested in August/September 2020 that someone could be seconded to replace Frank from within the PAS scheme (something that has been done in other areas when someone needs to be replaced) and nothing has been done. Sounds like someone has another agenda for the Island.
Regards David J. Mortimer, Isle of Wight.
That's a bit of a blow. in particular, Frank Basford's IoW data was frequently used as a test-case/showpiece in the various attempts to show that PAS data can be used as ersatz archaeological evidence. I argue that they cannot, but because Frank had had so much success in gathering them (unparalelled almost in the scale of the rest of the country), a passable case could be made.
Perhaps instead of the usual facile "fifty finds", the dozy old PAS might put a bit of effort into using these data while they are still fresh and doing a book on "fifty ways PAS data have caused us to think differently about the past of the IoW"... But as I said, dozy old PAS, because they will not. That speaks volumes.
I have just this morning been informed that a replacement for Frank Basford has been found and that he has been working at Westridge in Ryde, and for two days a week at the Guildhall, Newport, since last month. I only found out about this having made an enquiry with the Isle of Wight Archaeology Unit. None of the authorities I had approached up until now have been prepared to let me know, a very poor show on their part. Hopefully now I can get my metal detecting finds recorded that have been gathering dust since June/July of last year.
Best wishes, David J. Mortimer, Isle of Wight.
It remains to be seen if Frank Basford can be so easily "replaced". Big shoes to fill I think.
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