August was a demonstration of numbers for the Section!
We had fourteen Section members digging on the site at St Lawrence over the course of the three weeks (plus a couple of guest diggers from Jersey Heritage, Neil and Perry!) Four of those members were first time participants on a dig and three of those are relatively new Section members!
We also must have had about a hundred and fifty members of the public attending on our Open day as well as the staff from Pier Road, three sessions of Young Archaeologists ably looked after by Tahnee, film and radio crews from BBC and ITV as well as many other visitors over the excavation period.
We posted regularly on social media and received many favourable comments as well as picking up a considerable number of new followers. We put up a display board which had information about the excavation as well as the activities of both the Section and the Société so that everyone who visited the site could find out about it even if we were busy excavating.
What all this goes to prove is that if a Section undertakes an activity to which the public can attend / be invited or otherwise engage with, it seems to go down well! All of this is not only good for promoting a Section but also the Société as a whole.
We stressed that the principal membership benefit that the Société provides via its Sections is the opportunity for ordinary members of the public to participate in activities which they would not easily otherwise be able to do. It is not necessary have qualifications and experience to participate, only a passion or enthusiasm to get involved!
We introduced to visitors the concept of “Citizen Science and Culture” as a description of what participation in Section activities means. The idea that ordinary people can be citizen scientists within the Société, and also be involved in lifelong learning, seems to have caught the imagination of our visitors. Several were openly enthusiastic that we were offering this opportunity!
Finally, look out over the coming weeks for short profiles of several of our Section members being posted on social media and elsewhere. They reveal when and why they joined the Société and how much they enjoy it! Here is a taster from Theresa!
🌿 Discover, Learn & Belong – Join the Société Jersiaise! – Société Jersiaise
