THERE I was sitting in a tent in a field in north Essex with 19-year-old Bridget, who was frankly describing how her hair fell out.

It was then I realised the truth in what one of her fellow club members had said earlier: “Some people think we are anoraks, but if you speak to some of these people, you think twice about that.”

It was admittedly with some reluctance that I drove to the Colchester Metal Detecting and Artefact Club’s fun weekend in a field in Boxted.

As my car bumped through the mud, I could see scores of people wearing head phones, listening intently for that all important bleep.

Adjacent to the field were tents where many members, including people from as far as Florida, Canada and the Netherlands, had come to spend their weekend.

A short time later and I found myself talking to the event organiser, Kim Clarke. In an unfortunate twist of fate, three members of the club have battled leukaemia recently, and sadly one of them, Nobby Clark, lost his battle with it in June.

Tony Gilson is currently in hospital and Bridget Mallison was there.

The former St Helena School pupil, explained: “I had been feeling ill and I had quite a lot of time off work. When the doctor sent me to hospital, I thought I was anaemic.”

Medics established Bridget’s leukaemia was in her bone marrow, meaning the cancer cells take over ordinary ones.

Putting it behind her, she explained why she liked metal detecting: “It is just interesting seeing things from history. I saw my dad was into it and he influenced me.

“I wasn’t into history at school, this sort of thing seems better than sitting in a classroom.”

Judging by the hoard of objects handed to Laura McLean, finds liaison officer for Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service, there was plenty to be uncovered.

Detectors are encouraged to volunteer objects to her so she can identify them at the scene.

They can then be added to an archeological database online to help piece together history.

Most goods can be taken home by whoever found them, but if a find is more than 300 years old, it has to be reported to the Essex Coroner and the British Museum.

Mrs McLean said: “Whenever I come to a field, I never know what people are bringing to me and sometimes it is a complete surprise.

“Today I have seen a couple of hundred objects by lunchtime, spanning 2,000 years.”

Items uncovered included a late medieval bar which would have originally fixed together a leather purse.

A late Iron Age or Roman cosmetic grinder was also unearthed.

It was at this point I was able to reflect on my earlier conversation with Mr Clarke, who, after a decade of detecting, had summed up what was in it for him: “The surprise of the finds that come up. Anything can turn up. When you get an item it is the interest of trying to research it as well.”

Since the finds began in Boxted four years ago, detectors have made discoveries from the Iron Age to present day.

Some people attempt to sell the things they find, but integrity is encouraged so everyone can learn from them.

One of Mr Clarke’s most exciting finds in recent years included a kopeck, a Russian medieval coin from 1539, in his home village of Great Yeldham, near Halstead.

The former Royal Anglian soldier added: “When you get a good signal on the detector, it is quite a buzz, it is like being a little kid at Christmas, and when something like a Roman coin comes, you have got to think ‘no one else has looked at this for hundreds of years.”

The hundred or so participants at the weekend’s rally donated cash which will be split into 75 per cent for Leukaemia Research and 25 per cent to a charity of the landowner’s choice.

An auction was also held, including Nobby Clark’s metal detector.

Prior to his death, he realised he would not be well enough to join the latest rally, so requested it was given to the leukaemia fund.

To find out more about metal detecting, go to the National Council for Metal Detecting web site at: www. ncmd.co.uk, and to find out more about the club, go to: www.colchestermetaldetecting.

co.uk