Save Colchester's Roman Circus

Colchester Odeon to show Gladiator for appeal

Thanks Darius for putting on this event. It was good to see so many people turn out for it on Thursday, and wonderful to see it again on the big screen. Congratulations! And thank you too to the Odeon manager Pepe.

Join us for celebratory photocall this afternoon

Sorry about that. There was a good turnout so we hope the photo will adorn the front page of The Daily Gazette tomorrow. For those further afirled, we’ll try and scan the front page so you can see it too.

Celebrity supporters

We are pleased to welcome Julian Richards, archaeologist, writer and broadcaster as a patron for the Appeal.

Many people will be familiar with Julian for his television series ‘Meet the Ancestors,’ which used archaeology to give an insight into people from the past. He continues to work in broadcasting, education and heritage interpretation, using his extensive experience to find innovative ways to bring the past to life.

Celebrity supporters

Barbara Erskine, the international best-selling author based in Colchester, has kindly agreed to become a patron of the appeal.

She said: “That eight starting gates to the Roman Chariot Racing Track have been found undisturbed for almost 2000 years under the garden of the Sergeant’s Mess in Colchester’s former Garrison area is more like the plot of one of my novels! This is the only Roman Circus found in Britain. We have a real opportunity now to rescue this archaeology and make it a centre of excellence for our Roman Heritage – a major visitor attraction for Colchester, East Anglia and the UK.”

Helping put Colchester's Roman heritage on the map

You’ll be pleased to hear that several schools have got involved in fundraising already, based just on the publicity around the campaign. We’ve mentioned and thanked a few aleady on this site.

Others have requested and received talks, and we’re just this morning arranging another talk at a secondary school with the aim of encouraging the children to get involved in some fundraising.

You’re right that inspiring children is essential for the future of the Roman Circus, both at this stage of raising funds and awareness and at the stage when the visitor centre is created.

Love Roman Colchester month

Thank you. It is. We’re hoping to have a Justgiving account live soon, to handle donations and to enable people to run their own fundraising events for us.

You can send donations by post to Colchester Archaeological Trust, Camulodunum, 12 Lexden Road, Colchester, CO3 3NF.

Thank you for persevering.

Celebrity supporters

Michael Wood has agreed to become a patron.

“I am a regular visitor to Colchester”, he told us. “he discovery in Colchester of Britain’s only Roman Circus is of major historical importance – worldwide. That the eight Roman Starting Gates have lain undamaged for over 2000 years is remarkable! I fully support this Appeal preserve the garden and Sergeants’ Mess as a Heritage Centre – it’s such an brilliant opportunity for Colchester.”

Michael is the writer and presenter of many critically acclaimed series on television, including Art of the Western World, Legacy and In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. He is author of over sixty TV films which have been shown worldwide and of several best selling and highly praised books.

He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Oriel College Oxford where he did postgraduate research in Anglo-Saxon history. Since then he has worked as a journalist, broadcaster and film maker. His films have centred on history, but have included travel (Great Railway Journeys of the World; River Journeys; The Sacred Way); politics (Saddam’s Killing Fields: an award winning account of the destruction of the Marsh Arabs of South Iraq) and cultural history (Hitler’s Search for the Holy Grail, 1999: a study of the abuse of history and archaeology under the Nazis).

His academic background was in early medieval English history; among his publications are In Search of the Dark Ages and Domesday.

Michael is currently in and around England filming his latest project, English Story.

More fundraising events

Good idea Jane. I was hoping to have had one available now using the poster image. I’m just waiting for the original artwork from the Gazette.

I’ll try it via Cafepress.co.uk first, as there are no set-up costs and no minimum runs, so we don’t have to sink any cash up-front in printing items that might not sell out.

We can add a few different designs too – perhaps including posters designed by the children, or some of the images that some of the schools create in their work on the Circus.

Cafepress lets you offer the design in a variety of sizes/colours, including children’s. And if t-shirts don’t sell well in this weather, we can put the image(s) on warmer clothes or other items like bumper stickers.

But the Print.com shop in Head Street is a good idea. We can see which items sell well via Cafepress.co.uk and then perhaps approach them with the best-seller.

Will announce the t-shirts here, on the email newsletter, and on the Facebook group as soon as they’re available.

Meanwhile, if anyone would like to contribute an image for a t-shirt, do email it to me at romancircus@fundraising.co.uk. Thank you.

Show your support with the poster

Thank you to Colchester United who displayed this poster on their large screen throughout Saturday’s match against Norwich City. Ten thousand people would have seen our appeal!

Luckily for the appeal, the crowd of 10,064 was the U’s largest crowd for over forty years, the first time it had passsed 10,000 since 1983.

Celebrity supporters

Wyatt Van Wendells, presenter of The Heart Colchester Breakfast Show on Heart 96.1, has also agreed to become a patron.

Celebrity supporters

Guy de la Bedoyere of Channel 4′s Time Team has kindly agreed to become a patron of the appeal.

He has written many books about Roman Britain and has made numerous appearances on Channel 4′s Time Team, including a major role in the special film made about Colchester’s Roman Circus and other television programmes such as Channel 5′s Pompeii Live. He teaches History and Classical Civilization in Lincolnshire and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and of the Historical Association.

He told the appeal committee: “I was very excited to be involved in Time Team’s special about the Colchester Roman circus and visited the excavations for filming on several occasions. It would be very sad if the remains of this unqiue building were buried out of sight. I do hope that everything can be done to make them a permanent feature of Britain’s oldest town.”

Celebrity supporters

We are also pleased to announce that author and editor Ronald Blythe, famous for his “Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village” (1969), has agreed to become a patron for the appeal.

He has lived in East Anglia since 1955 and was editor of Penguin Classics for more than 20 years.