Only £9k left to find for circus...five days to go (From Gazette)

Only £9k left to find for circus...five days to go

1:49pm Tuesday 23rd February 2010

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THE campaign to raise £200,000 for Colchester’s Roman circus is just £9,000 short of the mark with five days to go.

A flurry of fundraising activity has seen donations rocket from £143,000 to £161,000 in just a week.

If £170,000 is raised by the end of the month, Colchester Council will contribute £30,000 to make up the total required.

Events including last week’s talk by Roman Mysteries author Caroline Lawrence have coincided with a rush of private donations, leaving the chariot appeal just inches from the finish line.

Colchester United fans did their bit at Saturday’s match by handing over an impressive £1,084 to collectors.

Campaigner Wendy Bailey said: “It’s a brilliant result, some of the fans gave on the way in and again on the way out.

“They were great and the football club management were really helpful.

“Wilkinsons, in St John’s Street, donated us 20 buckets to collect the money in and the Main Station fancy dress shop lent me some lovely Roman helmets.

“The whole thing was a great example of the community working together.”

The campaign’s head of fundraising, Isobel Merry, said the surge in donations over the past seven days had been amazing. She said: “The Roman Mysteries event and the Dan Cruickshank talks went well, plus we’ve had loads of people donating.”

The appeal should get another boost when Indikart in Colchester hosts a chariot-style go-kart race tomorrow.

A few places for teams of four are still available by calling 01206 799511.

The aim of the campaign is to allow Colchester Archaeological Trust to buy the Grade II listed former Army building, which has the Roman circus’ starting gates buried in its garden.

If the trust can secure the former sergeants’ mess, off Circular Road North, from developer Taylor Wimpey, it will be able to create a visitor centre on the ground floor with displays about Roman chariot racing.

The remains of the starting gates of the huge 15,000-seater circus would be exposed under a protective covering for tourists to look at.

The Roman circus is the only one to have been unearthed in Britain and archaeologists made headlines around the world when they dug it up in 2004.

The Gazette-backed campaign was started as, with the ancient building’s remains buried beneath the surface, there is currently little to show it ever existed.

To donate, call Isobel Merry on 07891 234274 or see www.romancircus.org