Sunday 26th June 2005.
Well Chris is a happy bunny!! 
Sunday evening and Dr Pete Wilson (Head of Research Policy for Roman Archaeology) and Geoff Morley (Assistant Site Director – Groundwell Ridge 2005) turn up at my house and confirm that we open up the Groundwell Ridge excavation Monday and that he will give a talk at the site to establish the project objectives.
Monday 27th June 2005.
I wend my way slowly to school and gaze wistfully at the big yellow trowel taking out the backfill from last year’s excavation. I wave forlornly at Geoff supervising the careful scraping of the sun hardened soil covering what was my spiritual home for a large chunk of the summer of 2004. I remember all the laughs I had, all the people I met, all the finds we made – and then all those bl**dy Roman nails!!! 
Still, teacher training day beckoned, and the planning of the next school year was waiting for me. Thinks – Key Stage 2 History – Hmm…I wonder what we’ll do. Romans perhaps? Yeah, Romans. Well the children would expect nothing less. 
The school day dragged. And then I had a meeting!! 
I didn’t get to see the site till about 16:45 and it was great to see two big piles of 2004 backfill, the yellow stain of the sand that we put in to mark the level of excavation and the black landscape material that we placed over the floors and walls. We were really going to do it all again. I just had to wait till 19:00 to get a briefing from Pete.
19:00 Turn up on site, well it is difficult not to if I leave my house, as it is only 100 metres from my door, and stand chatting to Geoff who insists that when the school day finishes at 15:00 I rush home, get my safety boots on and dig for the last hour of the day. 
So, as well as digging at the weekends, I should get all the info on what is going on daily. Well I really can’t turn down a request like that from the assistant site director, can I?
Pete outlined the objectives and what follows is a synopsis of the chat and extracts from the leaflet handed out.
GROUNDWELL RIDGE 2005 SEASON
This year we are here to answer a particular question – how did the hot range of the baths develop?
Last years excavation gave us the plan of the cold range, but in the hot range we were faced with a complex sequence that included a massive layer of broken tile and an apparent replanning of the baths during their use. This may have involved the replacement of a number of smaller rooms with one larger room, however to date we have seen so little of the earlier range that we cannot be sure. What we do know is that were two separate furnaces serving the hot range which suggests that either, one replaced the other or, if they were contemporary, that the hot range in its earlier phase was subdivided.
COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT
As in 2004 work is being undertaken as a Community Archaeology project with professional archaeologists working with volunteers from the Friends of Groundwell Ridge. However, learning from last year when volunteers helped with the back-breaking task of de-turfing – this year paid archaeologists will be doing that and removing the soil used to backfill the site after last year’s excavation. Another change this year is that the partnership has been extended from English Heritage, Swindon Borough Council and the Friends of Groundwell Ridge to include Wessex Archaeology based in Salisbury.
DISPLAY OF SITE FINDS AND INFORMATION
There is a display of material from the site in the first portakabin, along with posters and booklets on the project. Our normal working week this year will be Tuesday to Saturday, but over National Archaeology Week (16-24 July) we will be providing site tours on the Sundays as well. I hope that you will enjoy my second adventure into the archaeology and history of the Groundwell Ridge Villa and as before I welcome any questions.
Chris.