This May we say a very fond farewell to Robin Holgate, as he retires after 12 years of exemplary service.
Over this time, Robin has carried out several senior roles from General Manager to running our Consultancy services and most recently as Head of Publications and Value Creation. He’s also been one of our lead small finds specialists, casting his knowing eye over flint, pottery, coarse stone, industrial remains and much more!
Robin has had an outstanding career in the industry, running field projects in the Thames valley, undertaking studies of the Medway Neolithic tombs and very notably on the Neolithic flint mines of Sussex. He gained his PhD from Oxford University on the study of the Mesolithic-Neolithic in the Thames Valley, before working for Luton Museums and setting up the Luton planning archaeology service. He went on to the Museum of Science and Industry at Manchester, the second largest science museum in Britain after the Science Museum, where he became an Assistant Director. He then joined ARS Ltd in 2012 as our General Manager.
Robin has published over a hundred papers and several books, and has done an incredible and highly successful job in co-ordinating, measuring and cascading the company’s value creation activities. He has contributed significantly to the successful running of the CARD Fund, as well as providing content for social media output, popular and academic publications, and giving public and academic lectures. He is highly respected in the archaeological profession and until recently was the Chair of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists Registered Organisations Committee.
The team will miss Robin as he’s been an absolute joy to work with, setting us all an outstanding example of professionalism, positivity and kindness. We wish him a long and happy retirement and look forward to him popping in now and again to help with finds assessment – you can’t keep a good man down!