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Plymouth & District Archaeological Society

PDAS  AGM

January 2009

Members of the Plymouth and District Archaeological Society held their Annual General Meeting on the 13th January 2009. We were privileged to be using one of the Plymouth City Museum’s refurbished galleries.

As members assembled it was possible, to look at the new arrangement of paintings on the walls. The meeting began with a short film introduced by Martin Read. It showed how a replica was made of the gun from the Cattewater wreck, using as far as possible the original techniques and tools. The original canon is now on display in an immersion tank in the Museum’s new archaeology gallery.

The AGM commenced with Chris Ruse as acting chair, Joan Price as temporary secretary, and 39 members in attendance. The acting chair reported on another successful year; the hard working committee members having arranged a full winter and summer programme as well as newsletters and workshops.

Reg Alphey was thanked for completing the society’s new website.

The treasurer had raised concerns about the level of funds and, following a review of finances in June 2008, a Special General Meeting was held in October to increase subscriptions: Ordinary Members £15, Family Members £21 and Student Members £10. Donations from non-members for PDAS events were set at £4. It was noted that efforts were still needed to increase membership and reduce costs. The Society was unable to present the final accounts as the books were still with the auditor. These will be presented for approval by the members shortly.

Bob Thomas, Membership Secretary, reported that in the last financial year membership stood at 100 ordinary members, 38 family, and 3 student members. For the 2009 committee the following officers were elected unopposed:

Chair – Chris Ruse (Proposed J. Cambridge, Seconded D.Jennings)

Secretary – Joan Price (Proposed M.Read, Seconded R.Bate

Treasurer – Peter Macdermott (Proposed B.Bruce, Seconded R.Alphey)

Auditor – Matthew Farmer (Proposed Sylvia Suddaby, Seconded Bob Bruce)

The existing committee members willing to be re-nominated were: Elspeth Alphey, Ros Bate, Richard Bennett, Bob Bruce, Janet Cambridge, Sarah Cattermole, Di Jennings, Martin Read, Bob Thomas and Martin Tingle. The AGM agreed their election for another year. Ex-officio members elected were John Salvatore, City Archaeologist (Rachel Broomfield to deputise) and Museum Representative Fiona Pitt (Rachel Smith or Tabitha Cadbury to deputise).

The Chair announced that Rosemary Rankin is retiring because of business pressures. She will continue to edit the Newsletter until a new editor is found. Rosemary was given a Special Vote of Thanks.

In “Any Other Business” Peter Holt asked if costs could be reduced by using e-mail. The Chair said 60 out of the 140 membership have so far supplied e-mail addresses, and in the spring it was intended to distribute notices and the summer programme to these members. There could be problems with graphics for people without broadband, and it was noted that many members did not want to receive the Newsletter electronically.

The meeting ended at 7.30pm and then Fiona Pitt, the Curator of Human History, showed everyone round the new Archaeology exhibition and answered questions.

 

The Cattewater Gun

The Cattewater Wreck was discovered in 1973 during dredging and became the first ‘Protected Wreck’ in the UK. The ship was a three-masted armed merchantman, with finds mostly coming from southern England, but with pottery links to France and Holland. The wreck is dated to the 16th century.

Three guns were recovered from the wreck, the most complete one is known as the Cattewater Gun. This is a wrought iron breech loading swivel gun, known as a 'Serpentine'. These were anti-personnel weapons which fired small shot, flint or iron dice. Although maritime archaeologists have discovered other examples, very few are complete. It is an internationally important artefact, particularly in respect of the history of ordnance and dates from the mid 15th to mid 16th century.

M Read