In a sentence, can you tell me what you do at/for The Mint House?

I’m the Project Manager and as we are such a small team that means that I do a bit of everything, from strategic planning to cleaning the loos – we have to be flexible!

What are the two most recent books that you have read and enjoyed?

I read a lot.  At the moment I’m immersed in fairy books for exhibition inspiration, but I always have at least one fiction novel on the go.  King Sorrow by Joe Hill is the first, where a group of young friends summon a dragon with a faux London accent to deal with some bullies…what could possibly go wrong?  My second is The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, another fantasy where the protagonists are a bunch of misfits and miscreants forced into working together for a dubious greater good. I’m definitely in a horror/fantasy phase.

In the last week, what music have you been listening to?

I have really eclectic (some might say terrible) music taste but this week I have been listening to some fantasy synth in Flies the Coop by Hole Dweller which is lovely music to read a book to.  I’ve also been getting into Isengard again, a wonderfully strange  symphonic Black Metal band alongside some 1990’s trance for good measure.

Where was the last memorable walk or hike that you took and why was it memorable?

We went on a stunning walk just after Christmas that we will now be doing at least once a season.  It starts in Friston Forest (near Seven Sisters Country Park, Sussex) and follows a path to Litlington (with a great pub to stop at) then back along the Cuckmere to the starting point.  The walk takes in woodland, fields and hedgerows, marsh and riverside environments, so each element feels like a separate experience to lap up. I’m a bird nerd and was astounded by the number and variety of species, it is just so magical.

Name one thing you love about The Mint House building

I think it is the small traces that people have left behind that move me the most, these could be the traces of painted graffiti we have, the wear on a doorstep from countless feet or even the tiny pins that dropped through the floorboards over hundreds of years.

Name one thing you love about the project

So hard to name just one – but I think it is the people that make it so special, from my brilliant colleagues and Trustees to our dedicated volunteers who bring so much to the project, it is a pleasure to work with them.  It doesn’t stop there though.  The support from our audience has just blown us all away and has kept us going through the difficult times.  The partners and specialists who have helped us so much are also a huge part of what makes this project so fulfilling – through them I am learning every day.

Favourite bit of folklore (from anywhere)

My favourite (at the moment) is the folklore around archaeological objects, in particular prehistoric stone tools and how they have been interpreted in the past.  For example how neolithic axes were thought to be the physical manifestations of lightning strikes and when found would be secreted in buildings to protect them as a form of sympathetic magic.  I recently acquired a tiny bronze age stone arrowhead that had been mounted in silver and used as a piece of jewellery, this is a charm or amulet against elf-shot, often manifesting as back pain.  In some stories the finding of these tiny projectile heads would be evidence of the existence of fairies and elves physically shooting at humans and causing this pain. I love the way in which these objects somehow bring a tangible side to our intangible heritage!