Wednesday 7th November. – This month Norman Redhead, from the new Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Services, will be joining us to give us a talk on the Historic Landscape Characterisation project. This nationally commissioned initiative started in 2007 and ran for 4.5 years. It culminated in the production of a huge database which is controlled by a programme called a Graphic Information System. By linking historic, geographic and social records together with maps, both historical and modern, it can be used  to display all kinds of useful information. Norman will be bringing the database with him on his laptop to demonstrate how it can be used. Of particular interest to us will be its use in identifying areas of archaeological sensitivity and how the historic character of these areas can be studied.