GO DETECTING INTERVIEW WITH SIMON HALL

At the end of last year, in a muddy field near Willersey, I went to meet with Simon Hall from Go Detecting based in Solihull to chat about the business and the exciting world of all things metal detecting.

How long have you been doing this?

The company has been running for 5 years and I’ve been managing it for two.

What does your job entail?

I organise and market our metal detecting events. We have the skills, professional set up and contacts to approach and pay farmers to use their land. I organise three digs a week on a Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for most of the year. That can vary depending on weather and crops etc.

for liquidated and I lost everything – house, car and job.

It’s positive because men can find it quite hard to meet new people, do you agree?

How did that feel?

It was a horrible feeling; I was so used to being independent and all of a sudden, I wasn’t. I’m also used to being out and about and struggled feeling cooped up during lockdown. I was lucky to have a friend who helped me out though. After COVID my friend Laurence Von Sorgenfrei opened Go Detecting back up again and offered me a job as we both came from a marketing background.

Absolutely but again that’s the nice thing about it. You can come and meet people if you want to, but you can also come along, do some detecting, see a bit of the countryside and go home. It’s not forcing you to socialise but it’s offering you the opportunity if you want it.

That seems particularly good too in light of the fact we have something of men’s mental health crisis. It’s so interesting and engaging and would appeal to a lot of men. It gets people out and about in quite a wholesome way.

It sounds like a great job!

Yeah, it’s fantastic, the outside is my office. I worked in a corporate sales and marketing environment for many years and it’s definitely not my cup of tea any more. When COVID hit everything changed for me. The company I worked

Is it mostly men who come to the digs?

Yeah, but we have women too, there’s two or three here today. But yes, it’s mostly men.

Definitely, and another nice thing about it too is you don’t have to be super fit to do it so that’s not a barrier. But you can get out for the day, have a walk, some fresh air, perhaps little bit of light digging, and you don’t have to be an athlete to take part.

Is it an expensive hobby?

It depends really. Metal detecting machines start at about £50 and the top of the range is probably the new Minelab Manticore which is about £1800. You’ll need a pin pointer which is around the £100 mark and, of course, a spade. We charge members £15 a dig and nonmembers £25. Membership is £25 a year but our books are currently closed until November of this year – we have to ensure that there’s not too many people on a field.

But it’s so exciting, there must be this incredible feeling that you might find treasure!

Yeah, that’s true but you might just find a piece of metal or a horse shoe, that’s the thing with metal detecting you never know what’s going to happen.

Oh, wow that’s incredible – what a find! What happened next?

What about travel because that could add up too couldn’t it?

Yeah, we’re always conscious of that. So, we’re Birmingham based and most of our members live in the surrounding areas. We try to make the digs roughly an hour away. Sometimes we’ll do a three-day weekend dig so that people can stay over; people sometimes bring the whole family along. We don’t charge for anyone under sixteen. It is a patience game though and some kids can find that hard.

So, it’s not all gold coins and rare amulets?

No, you hear about the good stuff but there’s no guarantee you’ll find anything rare and valuable. Some people try it a few times and lose heart. Others try it a few times and they’re addicted. Some of our members have been doing it for twenty-five plus years – they’re just addicted to the history under our feet.

With a find like that you have to take it to the local ‘FLO’ or Finds Liaison Officer. They then do a coroner’s report on it. They asses it, value it etc and if it’s very valuable the British Museum will probably have it. If they don’t want it then one of the local museums will have it, and if they don’t want it then it’s returned to the person who found it. If it’s worth anything over £500, then the farmer will get a fifty percent share of that.

Incredible, find of a lifetime. How can people find out more?

Search for Go Detecting on Facebook and you’ll find dig and membership details there.

What’s the best thing that’s ever been found on one of your digs?

At the beginning of last summer, we had a dig in Bickmarsh, and we came across twenty-five Saxon coins in really good condition, which is rare.

Words by Mide Carter.

See the Go Detecting Facebook Group here for more information!