THE Friends of The Museum of Somerset (FOTMOS) were pleased to welcome to their last Zoom meeting of the winter, Amy Downes, Yorkshire finds liaison officer, who shared three of the archaeological discoveries recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

This scheme is run by the British Museum to record archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales.

Every year, many thousands of such objects are discovered, often by metal detector users, but also by people while out walking, gardening, or going about their daily work.

Finds recorded with the scheme help advance knowledge of the history and archaeology of England and Wales.

The first object was the ‘Snailman of Pontefract’, a knight emerging from a spiral shell carried on the back of a goat, which was found in September, 2020, by a detectorist.

The silver-gilt mount, less than two centimetres high, was probably mounted on a strap or thin belt and dates from 1200-1350.

A common find are Bronze Age axes, often broken before they were deposited – there have been 390 finds in Somerset alone, often in rivers and lakes.

They have also been found in fissures in rocks and on hilltops.

Additionally, a casting jet was found near Crowcombe - a small piece of waste metal copper alloy from the late Bronze Age, created when molten metal cooled in the feeder of a mould.

It indicates prehistoric metalworking and is a rare addition to hoards containing tools and weapons.

Another fairly common find are Roman fake coins, known as Barbarous radiates, so named because their crude styling looks like the sun.

Made of copper alloy with a thin silver coat, these radiates were very common in areas of high grain production, such as the East Riding of Yorkshire - the Kippax Hoard in Castleford consisted of 6,000 coins from the third century - and they were probably used as small change.

Additionally, clay coin moulds for radiates have been found at Lingwell Gate.

The result of these moulds were easy to put together, though sometimes the front and backs did not match up.

On Tuesday, April 21 FOTMOS will be returning to the Great Hall of the Museum of Somerset when Richard Cooper-Knight's talk will be on ‘Commonwealth War Graves in Somerset’ at 7.30 pm.

But, before that, tickets are selling quickly for the FOTMOS annual lecture ‘At the Edge of the World’, which will be held on Tuesday, April 14, at 7.30 pm in the museum.

Professor Danielle Shreve will explore the impact of climate change on wildlife in south western Britain over the past 100,000 years.

Anybody who would like to join should email [email protected].

PRESIDENT Susan Bellringer welcomed members and started the meeting with an update on two members that have been in hospital recently and everyone wished them a speedy recovery.

The recent trip to Batsford Arboretum was excellent and really enjoyed by all of the members attending, luckily it was a lovely day and the snowdrops and daffodils looked amazing.

A suggestion was made to visit again in a different season.

The monthly lunch and whist clubs were well attended and as always very enjoyable.

The speaker from Hartford Herbs was Tryphena Huntingford, who is a medical herbalist.

She moved to the farm 10 years ago and started by growing herbs for digestive teas.

The herbs are dried in light proof polytunnels as sunlight destroys the plants and they need warm circulated air to dry them.

Tryphena mainly makes tinctures now which is concentrated herbs in a solvent, typically ethanol, some of which are for internal consumption or in creams or balms to apply to the skin.

Tryphena likes individuals to make an appointment to see her so that she can talk about health problems but also lifestyle choices as they are connected.

Then, the correct medication can be given.

After diagnosis, the time it takes for the tincture to work can be quite quick but it varies.

Most of the herbs are grown on the farm but Tryphena also collects them locally.

Thelma thanked Tryphena for such an interesting talk.

Socal time continued with the herb theme with a fairly easy herb related quiz.

After tea and biscuits, a discussion was held regarding the changes to the equality, diversity and inclusion policy and the membership eligibility criteria that was announced in December, 2025, that all members (both new and renewing) are required to complete a WI registration form from April, 2026, onward.

The new ruling states that WI membership is only open to women born female at birth and by signing the form you are confirming this.

The recent suggestion that a lot of WIs would be closing because of this new ruling has not been verified.

The dates were given out for next month's clubs and the reminder for the groups next trip to Bickham Gardens.

The group will be having a stall at the spring fayre in Wellington Park on May 3.

The country for the WI’s competition this month was 'Canada', but, sadly, there were not any Mounties present!

The winning entry was a jacket with a fridge magnet and maple leaf brooch coming second and third.

Sampford Arundel WI meets in the Beambridge Inn on the second Tuesday of each month.

Their next talk is entitled 'All that Glitters'.

To find out more or join the group, contact Heather 666439 or email [email protected].

AT Sampford Arundel’s March meeting on March 12, the speaker Ursula Franklin introduced herself to the garden club, and started by telling the members that the title of AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) had been renamed ink 2023 as National Landscape.

Most of group, including Ursula, were of the opinion that such a bland title would not be used and they would carry on calling it AONB.

Having photographed and studied the Quantocks wildlife, fauna, and flora in minute detail, especially during the lockdown period, the garden club members were given an insight into what makes up these incredibly special areas.

Ursula talked about heathland and types of heather including bell heather and ling heather and, of course, gorse and bracken.

She also mentioned whortleberry, where children used to pick the flowers to be sent to London.

The dye was used for Naval uniforms in 1915.

The children were often found to be skipping school to pick the flowers in the season.

The group was also treated to some stunning photographs of heathland birds including meadow pipit and skylarks, as well as pictures of red and roe deer, woodland birds such as the green and lesser spotted woodpeckers, redstarts, tree creepers, and wrens.

In lockdown, Ursula would walk up Cothelstone Hill, which proved to be a rich and diverse area to study and photograph.

The group was treated to photographs and notes about all four seasons.

She mentioned the difference between native bluebells and Spanish bluebells.

Native bluebells have a ‘nodding’ head and Spanish bluebells were upright.

She also spoke in depth about slugs.

Ursula said that most gardeners hate them due to the damage they cause to plants like hostas.

But in actual fact, out of the 44 species of slug, only four types of slugs actually eat plants.

Ursula showed the group pictures of butterflies, including the small copper butterfly with the large variety now extinct.

She talked about how weeds are a great food source and habitat for butterflies and insects alike.

Thistles have the highest pollen count of plants and flowers.

Nettles also provide support for about 40 different species of insects.

Beetles are exceptionally good pollinators and spiders have a voracious appetite for pests, although the picture of the spider did cause some members to flinch at the sight.

Ursula showed pictures of grey and red squirrels, blackberries, hawthorne, beech trees, nuts, and mushrooms.

The group then held a quiz on which were edible and which were poisonous.

Parasol mushrooms were edible and the ink cap mushroom was okay to eat but only within 24 hours of picking. Wine makes ink cap mushrooms poisonous.

Ursula pointed out that snowdrops are not a native plant of Great Britain.

Ursula has written books and talks about penguins.

She made it an ambition to see all the types of penguins in the world.

Her books and some of her extensive collection of photographs were available to buy at the end of the talk.

At the end, Ursula she received a warm round of applause for such an interesting and informative talk.

Sampford Arundel Garden Club’s next get together is on Thursday, April 9, at 7.30 pm in the Parish Room in the village.

The speaker will be talking about cacti and succulents.

The meetings are open to anybody with an interest in gardening.

For further information, call Sue or Nick Matthews on 01823 672662.