Isle of Wight metal detector club raises £1,205 for hospice

Vectis Searchers Metal Detecting Club handed Mountbatten Isle of Wight a £1,205 donation in July after more than two years of fundraising through search days and club meetings. The club has backed the hospice since 1985, when Vectis Searchers first formed, and the latest cheque was only part of the support it has generated over three decades.

Each participant pays £5 to join a search across the Isle of Wight, and that money goes to the landowner as a permission fee. When a landowner declines all or part of the payment, the unused amount is redirected to charity.

John Flynn, the club treasurer, said Mountbatten was the beneficiary because the hospice has touched so many members and their families through inpatient care and community support. The TV series Detectorists helped bring new people into the hobby and into organised digs built around permissions and good relations.

Flynn said detecting can produce anything from a pull tab to a significant historical object, and the club declares all finds. The Isle of Wight joined the Portable Antiquities Scheme in October 2003, and has had a good relationship with detectorists since the late 1970s. Treasure finds must be reported within 14 days, and under the Treasure Act 1996, as expanded in 2023, certain metal objects at least 200 years old and of historical, archaeological or cultural significance can qualify as treasure and belong to the Crown.

Finds recorded through the scheme can move into museum collections, and some of Vectis Searchers' discoveries are on display at the Guildhall Museum in Newport. One member known as The Goldfinder recalled a 5,000-year-old penannular ring among his favourite finds.

The club is still looking for fresh landowners willing to allow searches, especially those open to having fees support Mountbatten.