Whooppee! War Ditches is done and dusted :)

War Ditches is being printed off as I write! The background research of this Iron Age Hillfort site has taken me about a year to do, as with any research I feel there is still lots and lots more that can be done but alas, time and money have long since run out and above all that my family would like their home back and their mum! The house has truely turned into a tip over this last week of finishing off the writing, editing and proof reading - this is due partly to it being summer holidays and the need to try and amuse my 8 year old in a way that meant I could still get the work done, I simply adopted a policy of 'sod the housework' and I will be dealing with the consequences of that in the morning!!!
However, I am very pleased with the work I have done and will be opening a little bottle of champagne when I get home from handing it in :)
I will continue the remaining research in my own time and hope to have the book about the site out by next summer but the pressure will now be off and I can relax to some degree. We have lots of fantastic plans coming up over the next few months and you'll see a great deal added to both CCAN and to History Pin, so watch out for news here!

I am on my last edit of War Ditch research and will have handed that in to Oxford Archaeology for the Wildlife Trust by next week :) I can't wait to share the news about it and get the book published, I'll keep you posted!
I have done a couple of wedding makeovers this weekend and in between that we got to go to the amazing annual Cambridge Folk Festival. We had a stall there to promote The Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall. As the festival is held within the Hall grounds and so many people come form all over the world to the Folk Festival it was a great chance to share with them information about the site they use :) It was really good fun and I'll get some more of the pics uploaded on to our Cherry Hinton CCAN site for you to have a look at shortly...

I've had a very busy couple of weeks and haven't had the chance to get on here to do my blog ! Summer holidays have started and Charlotte went along to the Holiday Club run by the Churches in Cherry Hinton last week, in the mornings. She had a great time and we got to go to a lovely fun fair, parents show on evening :) Poor granny is still very ill and the family are having to do shifts looking after her, it has been really really hard, especially seeing her when she isn't thinking clearly, it can be very distressing, I hope she gets more better days and things sort out a more :(
Well, one week of summer holidays done only 5 more to go! Will have to go for more picnics and walks, which will be easier now that little puppy has had her injections and can go out as of Friday and I've almost finished writing up War Ditches research :)
So, what else has been happening....
On Saturday 24th July we had the Cherry Hinton Community Groups Fair which was hosted by The Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall and showcased all different kinds of groups and clubs in the local area. It was a great chance to meet each other and find out what things are going on in and around Cherry Hinton.
We had a packed afternoon of displays and demos by some of the groups and then The Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall had its new logo unveiled by the Mayor. We had got local school children to enter a competition to design the logo and had choosen a winner at our last meeting. There was a lovely bit in the paper about it last week and the Mayor spent some time with me finding out all about CCAN and looking at the Cherry Hinton CCAN :)

After a really busy and intense week working hard on finishing off War Ditches history, fiting in makeovers and coping with lots of family stuff, especially my lovely granny who is still in hospital I managed to get a llittle break at the weekend. I went to London on saturday afternoon with Russ, we stayed in a hotel right next to the Tower of London and in the evening we went to Somerset House on The Strand to see one of my favorite musicians - Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy doing a solo Divine Comedy live show. It was fantastic, the music and performance was just brilliant topped off by the lovely surroundings of the great courtyard of Somerset house which was all lit up pretty :) We drunk Pimms and took some nice pictures. The next day we got buses down to Knightsbridge and went to Harrods where we looked at the little puppies in Pet Kingdom and I brought some Hello Kitty things for my girls from the Toy Land. We then walked round all of the food halls and brought some chocolates to bring home for the kids - We only got 8 single truffles and I won't tell you just how much they cost!!! I nearly fell over! ;) We stopped off at Trafalgar Square on the way back to the train station and got some lunch, it was such a nice warm summers day, I really, really needed that :)

I've been editing my final draft of the historical background for War Ditches and am very pleased with it, I will be even more pleased when I have actually handed it in and I can take a break from it to concentrate on some other exciting work and spending time with my lovely family and friends for the summer break  :)
We now have a new addition to the family! We got a dear little cocker spaniel puppy last week, she is brown and tan and we've called her Willow :) so as I sit here doing some work I have a dear little, soft, furry puppy nuzzled against my arm :D
This week has been busy as always but I am pleased to finally get some closure on a nasty bit of business caused by someone who has harassed, tried to bully and tried to publicly humiliate me since last October. Everything has been dealt with so professionally by my brilliant colleagues who have also had to put up with trouble from this person and I would just like to thank all my friends and family who have supported me and helped me through it all. I am so glad it seems to be at an end now. The Police and the Hate Crime Group and my solicitor have been fantastic and I am confident in how to deal with anything like this again (which I hope I never have to!). I would encourage anyone who ever feels threatened, bullied or harassed in any way to always speak out. Bullies want to frighten and intimidate you, you must not stay silent and hope it goes away. Tell someone! Your true friends and family will support you and there is a fantastic network of professional organisations out there to help you too.
I went out on Friday night for a little 'new start' celebration with my lovely crowd of sisters and friends. We had a lovely evening finishing off with everyone coming back here to see and cuddle puppy at about 12.30am. On Saturday it was Charlotte's 8th birthday, so we had another nice day. Sunday we spent decorating Charlotte's bedroom which now looks really nice. The next room to tackle is my office; I actually have a whole room inside the house (rather than the outhouse/store) to have just for my office! I can't wait, it will make such a difference to have all my work stuff in one room, where I can also go to work rather than sitting in the front room on the computer where I am really having to fight the temptation to watch Neighbours and Murder She Wrote in the afternoon ;)
Exciting event to go to on Wednesday in London, more on that soon!

Busy as ever! What a weekend, on Friday I did a prom makeover in Cherry Hinton and then did a bridal pamper party in Godmanchester which was all lovely.
A word of warning... if you ever have to take your child to ballet exams, be prepared! You will need food, drink, entertainment and to keep calm. Charlotte had her ballet exams this weekend and they are spead out over the whole weekend so that there is no point going home in between exams, the place is filled with stressed out, hot parents and a formidable but wonderful principle! :)  it wasn't that bad really but it was a lot of waiting about and the hot weather didn't help when everyone was stuck inside for hours and hours. The examiner is very strict and presentation is everything, so the fumes from cans of hairspay abounded. Charlotte did very well, she thinks, we don't get results until the end of September but fingers crossed and she should have her grade 3 now. Now exams are over, the rehersals for the Jan 2011 show begin!
In between that I got out on Saturday morning to give a guided tour of Cherry Hinton Hall for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, which Tony Kirby had organised. We had a good walk around and I pointed out and explained the features in the grounds from the prehistoric archaeology to the Victorian parkland. We even made a quick trip out of the site up the road to Giants Grave which is the large natural spring pool opposite the Robin Hood Pub in Cherry Hinton.
Saturday evening we popped over to Ely to my lovely friends, Emma and Rob, for their house warming which was great. I love Ely, I used to live there many years ago.
My son was here to visit for the weekend  too, so Sunday - in between ballet exams- we had a great BBQ in the garden and Russ even brought the TV out into the garden so we could watch the England match (no comment on that!).
Yesterday I went to my grannies to sit with her for a couple of hours, then I totally skived off of work and went into the town and spent some money on myself :) haha, it was brilliant! I haven't done that in ages, I was a total girl, I brought some clothes, false nails and false eyelashes, got a bit of makeup and some hair stuff then I came home and gave myself a haircut and stuck on my false nails and eyelashes (I can hardly type now). That was well needed.
Then in the evening, last night, I went and gave a lecture on local archaeology and history to Cherry Hinton Local History Society, it was a great evening and I had a suprise visitor along, Barry Fuller, from the Cambridge Archaeology Field Group - he had been involved with CHLHS 25 years ago and is a great friend of mine, he'd been trying to get the chance to come along for the last year and had finally made it, so it turned out to be a great evening all round :)
I must now finish off the War Ditches work I have been doing and have a week free of appointments to get it done, wish me luck!

I have been working away at writing up the historical backgroung for the War Ditches site which is a prehistoric ring work discovered at the top of Lime Kiln Hill in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge. The site is now a nature reserve owned by the Wildlife Trust and called East Pit. It is a spectacular chalk quarry site and is now open to the public, so if you get chance please do pay it a visit. I will be producing a book about the site later this year once I have finished this initial phase of research, so look out for details coming soon :)

It's been a busy week so far. I've been busy working on History Pin, promotion and the amazing plans we have for Cambridgeshire and History Pin. I will keep you posted here on developments. Monday kids went back to school after the half term break, so I have been using most of the time during the day to write up the background history for the War Ditches (Iron Age Hillfort site), still a bit more to do but I'm almost done, there be a good bit about that project on here when I've finished the write up. Monday night I had the Cambridge Antiquarian Council meeting to go to, which was at the Sedgewick site at the Backs in Cambridge. Closely followed by the lecture there on 'War Ditches' given by my collegues Richard Mortimer & Alex Pickstone. Then I went for a nice drink with Proff. Nick James at The Granta by the Cambridge mill pond.
Tuesday morning I chaired the Cherry Hinton Local History Society committee meeting, we got lots of great stuff sorted out. Again a lovely committee to work with and all so supportive and friendly which always makes the difference because I hear some dreadful tales about some committees! One of my friends says she will write a book on committee's one day!
In between that I have popped up to see my granny in the hospital - she's getting along ok and may well be out of hospital today x
Tuesday night it was the Cherry Hinton Community Archives group meeting at Jon's house - another lovely set of people - Jon always produces a cake he has made! We had a lot to discuss as we are now all working in conjunction with History Pin and there's a lot in the pipeline.
Yesterday I went to a lovely village near Huntingdon called Hilton to do a  bridal makeup trial. This morning I am going to get on with finishing War Ditches and I am really looking forward to tomorrow as it's my birthday :) I haven't any plans yet, my son is coming down from Shrewsbury for the weekend and my sister is coming over in the afternoon, I'm just gonna chill out and not work for a day! ;)  m x