Detecting

Medley
by John Winter

My First Metal Detector

I remember with affection my childhood days in a small Durham mining village. It was a time (or so it seemed) of endless sweltering summers, snowbound winters and sledging. Kids then did unusual things like playing over the fields, digging out a hive of whitearsed or sandy bumblers, transporting the buzzing bundle of boundless energy into a back garden wilderness, simply to watch them going about their business. Thus I was familiar with the excruciating pain of a bee sting from an early age and soon became immune. This was also the time I acquired my first real metal detector. It was called a Jackdaw. Sounds like the name for one of those cheap Chinese imports but this one was super efficient with discrimination second to none. Remember, I am evoking a time when it was not out of the ordinary for children to enjoy unlimited freedom and, like many of the local lads, I kept a jackdaw as a pet. Jacky (imaginative name) was acquired as a fledgling from the local quarry and ensconced in a rough and ready-made small cree hastily constructed by my father. You could tell the boys who kept jackdaws by the running streak of black and white droppings down the back of their jerkins for some reason the bird would involuntary defecate when landing on your shoulder. The jackdaw is known to be a gregarious bird and especially fond of people. I found Jacky easy to adopt and keep as a pet. We had great fun. He was noisy, inquisitive, enjoyed performing amusing tricks and even learned to imitate (in his raspy voice) my calling of his name. I reckon that if all the birds in the world took an intelligence test, then the jackdaw would top the scores. It is a wellknown fact that he will fly off with any pretty little object that catches his eye and Jacky often returned home with spoons, rings and other bright shiny objects that he had stolen. One day he returned with an Acme Thunderer whistle he had snitched from a guy refereeing at the local football match. That was his undoing. An irate fan downed Jacky from a telephone wire with a catapult when he returned for a second forage. I cried for a week. You never forget your first metal detector!

Searcher Test Results for the Jackdaw

Ergonomics: Feather-light, able to fly and well designed, but can be quite messy. Available only in black 9 User Friendliness: Comes when called. Operates better without supervision 10 Build Quality: Rather fragile, I suppose. Avoid catapults and stroppy pigeons 8 Weather resistance: Youll never have to put it in the airing cupboard to dry off almost waterproof 10 Performance: Discriminates well. Avoids dross and other dull crap 10 Value for Money: Minimal initial outlay 9 Battery Life: Perhaps its Achilles Heel needs frequent and constant top-ups of grubs, black beetles and centipedes 6 NB: the Jackdaw is not available at your usual stockist.

If you think you have something suitable or ideas for publication, then please email me at: john@johnwinter.com
Jacky posed by a model!

50 |

The Searcher April 2011

It Came from Outer Space

One day in late October 2006 residents in the Bude area of Cornwall were startled to hear a loud bang. Many thought it was an earthquake and one resident said a crack in her kitchen had widened as a result. Others reported experiencing their properties shaking and hundreds of people phoned the emergency services. A BBC Radio Cornwall listener said, The whole place physically shook. It sounded like Concorde when it broke the sonic barrier, but much louder. Checks carried out in the area were inconclusive and the Ministry of Defence, the RAF had looked like just another piece of rock, was about to prove very interesting! This wasnt the usual mining waste he usually picked up. For a start It had a totally different appearance, was very heavy and weighed in at nearly 2kg. Meteorite experts have confirmed that what John had found was a chunk of rock called a chondrite. Basically, when the materials of a meteorite have not separated or melted because of the extreme heat they are subjected to upon entry, the remaining rock is termed a chondrite.

What a Beauty!
Australian Don Brereton sent me a print of the 69.43 ounce gold nugget found in June 2010 at Sandstone in Western Australia by his friend Mike. That weight is going to be hard to beat! the amazing thing was that he made the decision to keep the find quiet until the end of the tour. I hear that the expressions on the faces of the other members were priceless when the magnificent gold nugget

Mike says, I was turning the big 40 in January this year, and what better way of celebrating the occasion than to travel over 3,000kms and join up with the Gold Prospecting Australia annual tour. Mikes piece is what dreams are made of. The trip to WA was his first and
Johns Meteorite

was finally revealedglazed eyes and open mouths! On the last night of tour, says Mike, when everybody brings out their finds for a grand weigh in and final admire, my nugget was brought out by my detecting partner Mark. I was proud as punch, it was so hard not to bite my tongue!

and the Civil Aviation Authority said there were no records of their aircraft flying over the area. A spokesman from the West Cornwall Astronomical Society was fairly convinced that it could have been a meteor that caused the bang before burning up as it entered the Earths atmosphere.

Two Years Later

Is it just coincidence that whilst searching in Hayle, a mere 50 or so miles from Bude, detectorist John Stokes should make a remarkable and significant discovery? John says that he received a very loud signal in his headphones that nearly blew my head off. And what at first

Chondrites are often embedded with grains of material that pre-date the formation of the solar system. These are of particular interest to astronomers and scientists who wish to know about the formation of our solar system. It is estimated that there are approximately 27,000 chondrites in the world's scientific and public collections, as well as many more in the hands of private citizens. Certainly makes a change from the usual detectorist find and even more when we know the provenance and can make an intelligent guess as to when this meteorite crashed into the Earth. Thanks for sharing with us, John.

Lucky nugget finder Mike with MP Peter Walsh (PMAV)

www.thesearcher.co.uk April 2011

| 51

Money, Money, Money!

Bring me Luck!
Discussing my first detector has brought on a nostalgia attack about money and how it seemed to dominate my young life. For example, when making a Christmas pudding, it was traditional in our house to add a silver three-penny bit to the mixture. It was believed to bring good fortune to whoever found it on their plate on Christmas day. When the pudding was dished up everyone would frantically search their portion to see if they had been lucky enough to get it! I guess that would be frowned upon today and would certainly contravene some Elf and Safety rule. predominately a Durham tradition. Whenever a village lass was married, her father would collect a handful of coppers to throw out of the car window as they set off for the church. We used to chase after the wedding car calling out shabby wedding if the coins didnt appear soon enough. I dont know the purpose of this tradition or if I did, Ive forgotten. You can imagine the scramble among the local youths as they fought to retrieve the coins. I witnessed feet run over by a white ribbon-bedecked wedding car on one occasion! a session in the pub, the miners went over the golf links to play pitch and toss. Dont get the wrong impression this rather grand name for the venue happened to be an undulating meadow of cowpats, cowslips, buttercups, bisected by a beck and surrounded by pit heaps! Gambling with coins must be as old as the advent of coin usage; in this country even during the reign of Elizabeth I it was a punishable offence under the Vagrancy Acts of the day. The laws regarding street gambling were tightened during the reign of Queen Victoria and it was still illegal in the 1940s. The local bobby had an arrangement that he would raid the illegal school at least twice a year. Even though a lookout was posted, there was always a scramble when PC Lambton made his appearance. Money didnt exactly fly everywhere, but it proved to be an excellent hunting ground for us wee boys! Im sure that with a detector, there would be a load of Victorian and Georgian coins still to be found.

Cross my Palm with Silver

I stumbled upon the following custom by accident when playing outside the village church. Some people were coming out and a lady was carrying a baby in a shawl. She called across and handed me a small package with instructions not to open it until I got home. My mother told me it was a christening piece and since I was a boy, the baby must have been a girl. The gift contained a piece of fruit-cake and a silver florin, carefully wrapped in a paper doily. I spent quite a bit of time hanging about the church after that, but with little luck! If the baby had been a boy, then the first girl to be seen after leaving the church received the gift. The tradition was supposed to bring the baby luck. It also made this unsuspecting child very happy! I also remember that when a new baby visited our house my parents always crossed the
Florin

child's palm with silver so that the baby would always have money.

The Polis is Cumming. Lets leg it!

I briefly mentioned the village gambling school on a previous occasion, but in a different context. On Sundays and after

My First Hoard?
I have a hazy memory of finding some sort of blackened silver coins and sitting on the back step feverishly rubbing them with a cloth impregnated with Vim scouring powderor was it Brasso? They were exceptionally shiny when I had finished and I remember showing them to my parents, but they didnt seem particularly interested. I wonder what happened to those coins? It wasnt a dream.

Silver three-penny bit

Shabby Wedding!
My next custom recollection would certainly be forbidden and I cant be sure that it was

Durham Constabulary Helmet

The John Winter Award

Don Brereton who helped me with The Saga of the Tamper and was subsequently awarded a Garrett book prize, has reciprocated by sending me magazines and other detecting news from Down Under. Amongst these was a copy of The Eureka Echo, the official journal of the Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria (PMAV), of which Don is one of the officers. I was astounded and had to do a double take when reading that he had been presented with the John Winter Award for 2010. The President of the Association, Rita Bentley, gave her personal congratulations and said that he was a very deserving winner. I can only guess that the award was given to Don for the sterling work he has done for the PMAV. I must state that, as far as I know, the Australian John Winter is no relation!

Don (Picture courtesy of PMAV)

52 |

The Searcher April 2011