Easter - and Howden heritage

Today is Good Friday - and it's cold. Particularly cold here as we have very little oil and when I ordered more I was told that as the Easter weather forecast was so bad everyone had had the same idea and so we could not have a delivery until after Easter. So it's back to lighting the Rayburn and barrowing logs - I suppose we are lucky to have an alternative heat source.

Last night I went to a meeting of the Howden Heritage Centre committee. It is just a year since we opened and now the whole ground floor is ready for use. The display area is bigger, we have a meeting room, a workroom, an oral history room - and somewhere for volunteers to make tea! We are now looking at putting on some fund raising events and some talks.

One of the interesting projects is an archaeological dig in the back garden of the centre. This building was of course for many years a bank but back in medieval times it was probably part of the Bishop of Durham's Howden palace. The banqueting hall survives but the Bishop's Lodgings and private chapel were very near if not within the garden. We have permission to dig some trial trenches so looking forward to  seeing what's underneath.