The Weekend Wanderers logo. The Coenwulf penny in the centre was found br BrianThe Weekend Wanderers logo. The Coenwulf penny in the centre was found by Brian the Blade on an Oxfordshire dig.
The Weekend Wanderers Mitsubishi L200 on a frosty morning in front of Segsbury Hill fort near Wantage 2003

‘I first started detecting back in 1976 on the farm where my parents trained racehorses in Ascot in Berkshire. It was during the heat wave that year that a parch mark showed on one of the fields and this turned out to be the course of a Roman road. It was here that I found my first Roman coin, a sestertius of Faustina using a C-Scope BFO detector. From then on I was hooked!’

Club founder Peter Welch using a GPS to plot one of the Henry V111 shillings from a probable purse lose at Crondall in Hampshire

‘I soon realized that many detectorists experienced difficulty gaining permission to metal detect on farm land. I found that many land owners were happier to grant permission to a professional, well run organization and hence the Weekend Wanderers were born’

’The club started back in 1990 with our first ever Sunday dig at   Maple Cross with just fifteen people’

The Wanderers is now the largest metal detecting club in the UK and consists of happy enthusiasts of all ages, ability and  walks of life.

as a result of very good finds made on this prolific site membership soon increased ’

Several years later, Pete moved to Ashford, Middx. Technology had advanced and detectors now had LCD screens but finding land was hard so he joined the Thames Valley Search Society in Langley.

Barley ripening. Photo Peter Welch
Sarah on a detecting holiday in Romney Marsh on one of the turf fields

‘I met Sarah on a WW dig in 1998 at one of our farms in Islip, Oxfordshire. At the time Sarah was already a very good detectorist & had made plenty of great finds. Since then, Sarah enjoys helping run the digs and has great affection for our club members’

You will often see Sarah at the gate when you turn up to the digs but not for long. As soon as detecting starts, she is off out with her detector as she can’t wait to join you all for a day full of exciting digging!

‘When she gets in from work, Sarah spends many hours working hard with me at home printing & posting the  newsletters for the next dig’

This website was designed by Peter Welch in 2009. All pages are subject to copyright

Most pages will be added to and are a work in progress. Please contact Peter for things you would like added or improved and report, broken links, slow page loading and browser problems.

Hi, my name is Peter Welch and I am the founder & owner of the Weekend Wanderers Metal Detecting Club’

’Our second dig took place at Ripley, Surrey &

DIG REPORTS 2012
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Click on the months above to access news of the Weekend Wanderers digs and finds photographs

Photographs are constantly being added as members frequently e-mail images of their finds from previous digs & of course we need your finds too.

Please reduce your file sizes before e-mailing them and take your shots with low megapixels. Remember to add the date and place where your finds were made and say if it ok or not to include your name in the write up. Thanks!