Members will undoubtedly be pleased to know that the County Council has appointed Dr. John Williams, M.A., Ph.D., as County Archaeological Officer from September. He is presently at Lancaster University where he also acts as Director of the Cumbria and Lancashire Archaeological Unit. Previously he was head of the Archaeological Unit of Northampton Development Unit. Earlier still he excavated in Canterbury.
K.A.S. President K. Gravett, Hon. Secretary A. Harrison and Librarian P. Draper attended a meeting with him on June 13th on behalf of the Society.
Representatives of other County bodies, District Planning Officers and English Heritage were also present. The latter are partly funding the post.
The majority of those attending, including your representatives, expressed warm support for this initiative which is a logical culmination of the efforts of the K.A.S. begun a few years ago. John Williams' specific duties include the evolution of a county-wide strategy for all aspects of archaeology, a list of priorities for fieldwork and the provision of advice, education and publicity. He emphasized that rescue fieldwork was essentially a confession of the lack of an adequate sites and monuments record and that his first tasks would be to seek to meet with all significant parties and to produce a comprehensive such record, freely available for public inspection.
Your representatives expressed great pleasure at his appointment and our willingness to help, based upon the Society's long history and the accumulated knowledge possessed by our membership.
