UKAFH Leader - Steve Snowball

Contact email: s.snowball@virgin.net

Hi everyone. It's great to be part of this growing group and of the UKAFH team.

I started my interest in fossils (and particularly dinosaurs) from about 7 years old, when I bought some plastic dinosaur models in Woolworths! Like most youngsters, I always wanted to find a real dinosaur skeleton and I dug a hole in my North London back garden to a depth of about eight feet, in order to discover one! However, my luck was in, eventually. When I was about 10, I visited a large brick pit in Buckinghamshire and with the help of a kindly 'uncle' who worked there, I came away with a large box of bones, some pretty large. They were of marine reptiles, (including plesiosaurs, icthyosaurs and crocodiles) from the Oxford Clay, which were identified by the Natural History Museum in South Kensington - not bad for my very first proper fossil hunt!

And so, I got the bug and since then I've collected at every opportunity. As a student, I was based in Weymouth for four years and the Jurassic Coast was right on my doorstep. It's still my favourite spot and I go back there just about every year, especially on family holidays, even if it's for a short break. Of course, fossil hunting is always somewhere on the agenda.

These days, I live in East Sussex and I've very recently taken early retirement from my job as a primary school headteacher (34 years in teaching was enough, thanks!). I now have the time to pursue my other interests, without the pressures of the day job! Joining UKAFH means meeting new faces, taking in new places and fresh air and looking for fossils at some great locations throughout the coming years. Wonderful!