Saga Magazine – August 2018

(^2018) I SAGA.CO.UK/AUG-MAG (^11)
Words Gillian Rowe
Photographs Andy Aitchison
hen Marija
Currell used to
visit her daughter
at her fl at in Rotherhithe
in east London, she would
gaze down on people
dotted along the
foreshore wishing she
could join in with their
endeavours. Retired and
recently widowed, she had
already volunteered for
archaeological digs near her
home in Manchester, but
when she moved south to be near
her children she heard about
FROG – the Foreshore Recording
& Observation Group.
With more than 600 volunteers,
FROG monitors the key sites of
archaeological interest found on
the Thames foreshore; structures
and features exposed by
the movement of sediment in the
shifting foreshore environment
as well as the thousands of
artefacts washed up by the tide.
‘It’s completely changed
my life,’ says Marija, 67 , a former
facilities co-ordinator. ‘I love
the sense of responsibility and
you get excellent training in
what you have to look for.’
Joanna Cronin, 69, has always
loved the Thames and the
former psychotherapist is
part of a team that monitors the
Greenwich foreshore.
‘It’s good to know you are
doing something useful. As well
as recording and measuring the
archaeology for the future, you
are also keeping an eye out for
the Port of London Authority
to keep them posted of any
deviations on past records, such
as a wall we found recently that
was being undercut by the water.’
For Marija, being out in the
fresh air and making new
friends are bonuses but, ‘I just
like being on the foreshore. It’s
not just the wooden structures,
piers and struts that we come
across. It’s the little pieces
of pottery and brass and other
artefacts. It all paints a picture
of the river; it makes it come
to life.’ Joanna, meanwhile, is
happy to report that her recent
fi nds include shards of medieval
pottery and a piece of bone
sticking out of Neolithic peat.
Visit thamesdiscovery.org,
020 7410 2207
W
A capital idea
Marija, far left,
Joanna and other
FROG volunteers