Peter Reynolds

[Ros Smith]

I was very upset to see the message at the end of this weeks Time Team. I
had just been reminiscing about when I used to cover Pete's Classics classes
in a school where we both taught in Evesham so that he could get off early
to do something archaelogical. He used to inspire everybody with his
lunchtime lectures on Iron Age huts and grain pits - the only time that
Chemistry made sense for me! An inspiration for staff and students alike. A
huge loss.

[Jon Guite]

In article <3c66c...@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com>, Ros Smith
<ros-...@lineone.net> writes

Hi Ros, I haven't watched tonight's Time Team yet (I have it on tape),
but Peter's sudden death came as a huge shock to all who knew him. I
did know that he was going to be appearing in one of the programmes in
the current series of Time Team, as he and Mick Aston were great
friends, and Mick was one of the guest speakers at Peter's Memorial. A
couple of days ago I sent the following post to some of the archaeology
newsgroups and mailing lists :-

I have been asked by the new Director of Butser Ancient Farm to forward
this to all interested parties :-

Despite the unexpected and untimely death of Dr. Peter Reynolds last
September, his experimental and educational work at Butser Ancient Farm
will continue. That the Ancient Farm has managed to survive for thirty
years is a tribute to his tenacity and determination. Since its move to
Bascomb Copse in 1991-2, Butser Ancient Farm has relied on income from
the educational programme to maintain the research element on which the
Farm is based. This was possible because Peter Reynolds did not take a
salary. However the maintenance of the site and its research became
increasingly difficult to sustain without outside funding.

The team at Butser, under the leadership of the new director, Christine
Shaw, is determined that the work of the Ancient Farm should continue
and is in discussion with interested parties as to how this should best
be achieved. The level of support from the academic and heritage world
has been very encouraging and much appreciated by an organisation
devastated by the loss of their friend and inspiration. Giving up or
remaining static is not an option - experimental and educational work at
Butser will continue and new projects will be initiated, probably in
partnership with other institutions.

Inevitably some changes have had to be made while sources of funding are
explored. In the short term, the resources at Butser are spread very
thinly. It has therefore been decided to open to the public only on the
last weekend in the months from March to September with each weekend
having a theme. School parties, group visits and lecture tours will
continue all year round as usual and there will also be a programme of
Day Schools during the summer. Further information can be found on the
Butser Ancient Farm web site http://www.butser.org.uk

--
Jon Guite