ROTARIANS in Marlborough have dug deep to raise money for the Julia’s House Hospice charity after taking part in a metal detecting day.

Members of the club put on their headphones and took their metal detectors to a farm in Alton Priors last month, searching the 150 acres of land to try and find forgotten bits of the past. The event, held in partnership with Leisure Promotions Ltd from Newbury, aimed to raise money for Julia’s House as part of the Rotary Club’s charitable works.

Geoff Oades, of Marlborough Rotary and District Club, said: “The day went very well, one of our rotarians, Jack Torrens, used to be a farm manager and as he knows a lot of farmers in the area he managed to arrange the day on the land owned by Tim Carson in Alton Priors. The metal detecting was very successful, we found a few Roman gold coins and some Bronze era bits.

“This was a marvellous effort in rather wet conditions but it was worth it and we are proud to be supporting the Julia’s House project bringing a children’s hospice to this part of Wiltshire.”

At the meeting of the rotary club on September 26, the president, Sally Wolfenden, presented a cheque for £1,200 to Phil Stevens of Julia’s House.

Mr Oades added: “Phil Stevens talked about how he became involved in fostering children and the joy this brought him and his wife and how this lead to him supporting Julia’s House. He also updated the Club on progress of the building work and how Julia’s House was already supporting this area utilising temporary buildings in Amesbury. Geoff went to say that there would be a further donation as soon as the rest of the money had come in.”

Ian Wadley, Wiltshire Fundraising Manager for Julia’s House, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to everybody at Marlborough Rotary Club for this tremendous donation to Julia’s House.

“With just 5% of our total annual funding coming from government, Julia’s House is very much a service for the local community, funded by the local community, so we are very grateful indeed for this generous support.”