Donations from 2024

It has been through a few difficult years for SHARP and with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis we have seen dramatic increases in the cost of hire, delivery, and food that we need for the season. This has meant that in the last couple of years the season income has been used almost exclusively to pay for the site facilities and catering, with little left over to invest in anything else.

Every year we are incredibly grateful to the public that donate to us during the season. This year we have had several larger donations from individuals such as Trevor Cummings, Ann Smith, Julia Paul, to name just a few, as well as several donations from organisations in return for tours or seminars. We thought it might be nice to share with everyone what these donations this year will be spent on.

As we have lived hand to mouth over the years, the site facilities have been rather neglected, with repairs done as cheaply as possible. In the last couple of years however we have been looking to change this by investing in higher quality, longer lasting repairs instead of cheap fixes. We believe this is more economical longer term and will help the project going into the future.

Marquee is a hub of activity, day or night, and has been the focus of SHARP life for over 20 years.

Marquee is a hub of activity, day or night, and has been the focus of SHARP life for over 20 years.

The marquee we use each summer was donated to SHARP in 2001 and without it we would struggle to run a season. It is so essential for everyday life on site. While we have looked after it well over the years after over 20 years of use it is starting to show signs of wear and tear. The SHARP committee have therefore decided to put the donations from this year to good use by getting the marquee the full overhaul that it needs and deserves. This means it will be sent away to the company that originally constructed it for a full service, and for any repairs to be made. This will hopefully mean that we will get another 20+ years of service from this essential piece of SHARP kit. Any remaining money from donations this year will be spent on other important improvements to the site facilities and archive.

Putting the marquee up in all weather conditions before the season.

Putting the marquee up in all weather conditions before the season.

After the season the marquee is cleaned before being stored for another year.

Another large donation to SHARP this year will go towards the post-excavation work of the Human Remains team to allow us to radiocarbon date two of the burials from the evaluation trench in Boneyard Field in 2023.

We would like to say a huge thank you to all who have donated to SHARP this year, and to those who have gift aided their donations. This Gift Aid money is added each year to the John Hensby Bursary Fund to provide bursaries. Last year it allowed us to offer several part bursaries for BERT courses. If you made a donation this year (or in the last 2 years) but didn’t fill in a Gift Aid form these are available to download here, but you can also fill a form in online here.

Donations are always welcome, and every little really does help. We are currently fundraising to match fund for a project to make SHARP more sustainable and green, so please do visit our Crowdfunder here for more information and how you can help us with this project.