From that moment on, my advance into British archaeology lead me to meet local archaeologist and author Sylvia Beamon who saw my collection of artefacts and realised my potential. She immediately began setting me in the right direction so I could continue to fuel and increase a curiosity into a passion.

In 2003 I joined the Young Archaeologists Club (YAC) to further my interests. Two years later I went on a YAC's holiday to Trewortha Farm in Cornwall where I met and was greatly inspired by the late Tony Blackman (below at Kelmarsh 2009). During one of the many interesting hands-on sessions in the on-site reconstructed roundhouses, I had my first go at Flintknapping and metal working. I did not know then that both primitive crafts would become major parts of my life over the next few years. I continued to go on the YACs Cornwall holiday for the next two years and by 2005 my flintknapping skills were improving.

In 2007 I helped found the Royston Time Trackers with Sylvia Beamon, a club of young people (aged 8 - 16) who meet monthly at the local museum to learn about different aspects of archaeology, geology and history. Each session is either a discussion on various topics, a demonstration, or a creative hands-on event, such as making and decorating Atlatl's. The group has also had field trips to West Stow Anglo-Saxon village, Therfield Heath and Wandlebury.

In 2008 joined Britannia (Late Roman to Early Saxon reenactment society). This has given me the opportunity to meet some new friends and then go onto the 'battle-field' and knock them about with a sword - all great fun and the crowds really enjoy it. We have performed at many events, like the annual Festival of History.

As part of a Works Experience programme, I spent two weeks working with team at the Oxford Archaeology East Unit in Cambridge.

James Dilley - Ancient Craft

At the age 2 or 3, picking up stones from the ground and saving interesting ones was a common thing for me. It may be from here that may current interest developed, but I really became aware of archaeology and history at my Primary school.

When I was around six, my interest in Egypt's archaeology grew; however nothing really came out of this for a few years and my ideas changed to suit new interests. This is the point when instead of looking at the archaeology of places thousands of miles away, I started to look at the archaeology in Britain.

An opportunity arose that sealed my changing interests. An Essex farmer I knew, had started to find odd pieces of fired clay in his field. I was invited to look at this field and after walking around for a while, I realised that it was not just a few pieces of clay and stone. This field had evidence of occupation from the early Bronze Age to the late Medieval, but the most obvious part was that 2nd-5th century Roman pottery littered one half of the field and judging by the amount of pottery and building material (such as roof tiles and hypocaust tiles) that surfaced over a few years, it was clear that there must be a large villa complex on the site which could be present under a layer of protective clay.

In 2005 I was asked by the curator of the Royston and District museum to organise a display of my Roman artefacts, to coincide with the Time Team's Big Roman Dig. This launched the very first Archaeology Family Fun Day.

We raised £81 that day and over the next five years the annual event has raised over £500, which is donated to the museum for various projects. This event also helped me gain my Chief Gold Scout Award, as part of the Community Challenge.

In 2007 I won the Young Archaeologist of the Year Award for my work on archaeology of Therfield Heath. The prize was to take a trip to York and dig on their new excavation area at Hungate (left with Time Team's Raksha Dave).

Also in 2007 I was awarded the Cambridge Association for Local History Young Person History Award (CYPHA) for a detailed analysis and report of the long barrow and round barrows of Therfield Heath.