A Reading man is taking his passion for metal-detecting on the road as he sets up a mobile exhibition displaying his findings.
A Sainsbury's Calcot worker by night, former Royal Mail postman Jeff Nelson has been detecting for 40 years, and can't wait to share that passion with others in the comminity.
Speaking about his much-loved hobby, Mr Nelson said: "I am in the process of labelling up my pieces now, so hope to be ready to display in the next few weeks.
"I hope the display will be of interest for local history groups, Women's Institute's and Royal British Legion's, but especially care homes.
"It will be like having a mobile museum for residents and I hope they will love the opportunity to be able to touch and see artifacts that were last handled many years ago."
Far from a novice when it comes to setting up displays, the Calcot resident has done multiple events and has even showcased his finds to prestigoius individuals such as John Redwood, MP for Wokingham, who said of Mr Nelson in 2010: "Clearly our ancestors did not have the same will to recycle or the same efficent dustbin service as we enjoy today.
"Their losses are our gains, as we peer into the past through this window opened by Jeff.
"Expect him to find more, and expect him to show these finds to the local community.
"Wokingham historians and archaeologists should be ready to weave Jeff's discoveries into their story."
And this is exactly what Mr Nelson is doing a decade on, but he still finds it baffling that there is so much interest in his work.
He continued: "I have done a few displays and talks to people a number of years ago and I was surprised to see so much interest in what could be found locally.
"I was so happy to see the reaction from people who can remember some of the pre-decimal coinage and little metal soldiers they played with when they were little.
As well as for the benefit of the public, Mr Nelson is also hoping to improve the experience for those metal detecting.
According to the keen baker, deterctorists have garnered a bad reputation due to a group called 'Nighthawker', who enter land they are not allowed to overnight.
Mr Nelson wants to show people that not all detectorists are law-breakers, and that they're misrepresented in the media: "I want to promote the hobby in a positive way as it has had negative press in recent times, but also the opportunity to be granted permission to detect on someone’s land.
"Unfortunately there are detectorists out there who detect on land without permission and over the years these people have ruined the chances of gaining permission to detect on land for those law-abiding detectorists, who follow a strict code set out by the National Council for Metal Detecting.
"Hopefully when people see me they will go away understanding that we are just trying to find and preserve items that would have just rotted away in the ground."
You can find out more information about his findings here, on his Facebook page 'Jeff's History Beneath my Feet.'
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