In memory of Miner John: the John Hensby Memorial Bursary

In the 22 years that SHARP has been digging in Norfolk, we have had many amazing people come to join us and, sadly, some have also gone.

John Hensby - nicknamed 'Miner John' to distinguish him from the various other Johns on site - was a member of the SHARP team for many years until a cancer diagnosis called an end to his time on the Boneyard in early 2012.

A former coal miner from Lancashire with a classic Liverpudlian accent, John came to SHARP in the early 2000s. Like so many long-term SHARPies, he was trained up through the BERT course and became a much loved and respected member of the supervisory team.

Team members who knew John remember his passion for knowledge, his t-shirts, his generosity and his 'interesting' vocabulary (and how the children on site learned a great deal from it). John is also warmly remembered for his commitment to education and to making archaeology accessible to everyone within his broad interests in archaeology and local history.

In John's memory, SHARP established the John Hensby Memorial Bursary to fund two subsidised places annually for diggers who would not otherwise have the opportunity to excavate for financial reasons.

SHARP's founder director Neil Faulkner says "The bursary is a monument to John's commitment to the cause of the common people - whether fighting for the right to work and in defence of working-class communities, or making archaeology something available to all, not just something for the well-heeled."