Roadshows
Holiday Hi-jinks
Nov 3rd
This October half-term holiday the Explore the Seafloor team was out and about. 
The last 2010 roadshow ran at the National SEA LIFE centre in Birmingham, and it was one of our busiest. We had lots of fun and were particularly impressed with the Halloween costumes that some of our younger visitors wore. Katie and Sarah, Explore the Seafloor team members, also got very excited about seeing the cast of the BBC TV show “Hustle” filming at the end of their street, as well as a Jet Ski chase for a Bollywood movie along the Birmingham canals.
On the South coast ETS team member Rhonda put on a one day special event at the New Forest Centre, working alongside outreach officers from the New Forest National Park Authority. On a miserable autumn day it was a fun way to escape the weather although people still got a bit wet at our archaeology handling table!!
Half-Term Havoc at Birmingham Sea Life Centre
Oct 21st
The Explore the Seafloor team are off to the National SEA LIFE centre at Birmingham for the half-term holidays. The roadshow starts on Saturday the 23rd of 
October and runs through to Halloween.
Come down and handle real archaeological artefacts dredged from the depths of the sea, examine sea creatures under a magnifying glass and, if you’re brave, have a feel and guess what’s in our mystery boxes.
The Sea LIfe centre will have lots more activities to fill in those rainy, half term days so if you are looking for something to do, come down and join us.
Sunshine in Hunstanton
Sep 8th
It’s the end of the summer and the end of our roadshows for the moment, as we return from the sunshine and sea air of Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary.
The Explore the Seafloor team were glad that the high winds and torrential rain that greeted them on arrival were quickly replaced by blue skies and warm sunshine.
It was busy over the August Bank Holiday weekend with huge numbers of people guessing artefacts in the water-table, enthusiastically sieving the geology samples and digging for facts in the sandpit.
We had lots of visitors enjoying the activities and many children spending their last week of school holiday freedom learning about the seafloor off the East Coast. Many people enjoyed dressing up as a scientist or dredging industry staff and the waders proving particularly popular. We also chatted to several people about sea level changes off the Norfolk coast following a particularly well-timed episode of BBC’s Coast about submerged forests in the region.
Check out our photos on Facebook
We’re taking a short break from roadshows while we prepare some online resources about the project. Our next and final roadshow will be at Birmingham Sea Life Centre during October half-term.
Lightning at Lowestoft
Sep 1st
The Explore the Seafloor team continues to be busy over this summer period. We spent the last two weeks interacting with all the friendly people in the Norfolk area. We took our display to the Lowestoft airshow and provided shelter and entertainment to some rain soaked visitors. Despite thunder and lightning the mood at the show was enthusiastic and the rain didn’t stop people from enjoying our seafloor display and the amazing aircraft acrobatics.
Following a quick pack up the roadshow moved to the lovely environs of the Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre education room. We felt very at home surround by the colourful fish and murals. Visitors displayed an interest in the archaeological finds and were excited that many artefacts were originally found near Great Yarmouth. Our weaver fish however, stole the show bringing back people’s memories of how it feels to get up close and personal with a live one – ouch!
Weaver fish investigation.
Visit our facebook page to view the latest pictures.
Join us at Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary
Aug 24th
Join us to get your hands wet and Explore the Seafloor at Hunstanton SEA LIFE Sanctuary from the 28th of August until the 5th of September. Wessex Archaeology is bringing the roadshow back to Norfolk.
We have lots of exciting activities for visitors to Explore the Seafloor of Britain’s coastal waters. Bring your family, or embrace your inner child, and dress up as a maritime archaeologist, scientist or marine dredger! We have real archaeological artefacts to hold including part of a World War 2 machine gun, a 10,000 year old mammoth tusk and part of a 1950s airplane. Younger children can dig for finds in the sand pit and touch artefacts in the water table.
Take a break from the beautiful beaches of Hunstanton and pop into the Sea Life Sanctuary to visit us.
Scientists have spent the past 2 years investigating the exciting world beneath the sea and now it’s your turn!
Katie explains one of our archaeological finds to visitors
Maritime Mad at Fort Cumberland
Aug 20th
Explore the Seafloor joined English Heritage’s event “From Caves to Cohorts” at Fort Cumberland on the 31st of July and 1st of August, part of the Festival of British Archaeology celebrations. 
The weekend was great fun, exploring Britain’s history from the Stone Age through to the Romans with exhibitors and great hands-on activities to fill the whole day. One of the highlights was the Roman re-enactors Britannia who entertained the crowd with a rather gory Roman gladiator training session.
Located in the Maritime tent Explore the Seafloor joined the New Forest National Park Authority’s Maritime Archaeologist and English Heritage’s own maritime specialists giving people the opportunity to discover the amazing history of Britain’s seas.
Explore the Seafloor would also like to thank Wessex Archaeology staff Amy Radford and Sophie Thorogood for coming along and helping out on the day.
At the Seaside at Great Yarmouth
Aug 18th
Explore the Seafloor is now at the Great Yarmouth Sea Life centre located on the main sea front. We are having a great time and glad to see the sun finally shining. 
Come on down and join us for lots of fun hands- on activities and discover what you can find on the seafloor.
Scarborough rocks!
Jul 13th
Our team has just returned from Scarborough Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary and had a great time chatting to all the visitors. The centre has a long history of rescuing and rehabilitating animals and our message of seafloor research and protection fitted in perfectly. We were excited to see the show advertised in the local paper and on local road signs, and would like to thank all those in Scarborough for making us feel welcome.
Trying to be an ancient deer.
We had a mixture of school groups and families visiting us and they were all excited to see our ‘Please touch’ signs. Many of our visitors were from Scotland as the roadshow coincided with the Scottish school holidays. This was an excellent opportunity to reach a new audience and explain to them what the English seafloor is really made of.
To see pictures of the Scarborough roadshow go to our facebook page www.facebook.com/exploretheseafloor
Next stop, Weymouth!! This roadshow will be held from the 24th of July to the 2nd of August. See you there.
Scarborough Roadshow
Jul 2nd
Our team had a fantastic nine days at the Brighton Sea Life centre. Though we had to contend with the brilliant sunshine, a returning turtle and that football match, we had a great number of guests come through and explore the displays. All of our visitors were inquisitive and enjoyed learning about the seafloor and
Sneaking a peak at the Brighton Roadshow.
the amazing things that can be found. The visiting school groups came up with excellent suggestions for where the archaeological artefacts could have been from and produced some colourful postcards which can be viewed here.
After a quick turn around the van is on its way to Scarborough. This roadshow is hosted by Scarborough Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary and will focus on the seafloor studies in the Humber region. If you are in the area drop on by and chat to our enthusiastic team or get hands on and explore the activities yourselves.
The Scarborough roadshow will run from the 3rd of July to the 11th.
Brighton Roadshow starts this Saturday
Jun 18th
Feelie box fun
The Explore the Seafloor team are busy getting ready for our second roadshow at Brighton Sea Life centre, which starts this Saturday, June 19th. This roadshow we will be finding out what the seafloor of the South Coast is really like. Come down and handle real archaeological artefacts dredged from the depths of the sea, examine sea creatures under a magnifying glass and, if you’re brave, have a feel and guess what’s in our mystery boxes.
We will be in Brighton until Sunday the 27th of June so come down and join us.
