He read his wife's anniversary card at 86 — in Bedford, a Roman villa has been coming out of a field since 2011 (2026)

Alan Hannay is 86 and lives in Southampton. The anniversary cards have been arriving for 65 years, and until recently he could not read them. 1

Now he reads every morning for about an hour and a half, and goes to a lesson twice a week. 1

"It's changed my whole life, my confidence, changed my family life and everything around me," he told BBC Radio Solent. "It's one of the best experiences I've ever had." 1

The job that hid it

He spent his working life as a chauffeur, driving clients around London, and did it on memory — routes, the shape of streets — rather than on anything written down. 1

At 70 he tried evening classes. His reading came on, but he found the group setting difficult. 1

Then a great-grandchild asked him to read a story. 1

So he went to his library in Hythe, Southampton, and asked about learning. The library sent him to Read Easy. 1

How it actually works

His coach is called Angie. They meet twice a week for half an hour, at his pace, in a quiet public place they choose together. The coaching is free and confidential. 2

The course uses five workbooks called Turning Pages, published by the literacy charity Shannon Trust and written for adults. Some readers finish in a year. Others take much longer. 2

Read Easy says 2.4 million adults in England cannot read at all, or struggle to. Many have told nobody. 2

Coaches give two half-hour sessions a week, and get free training before they start. 3

Hannay's advice is blunter. "The first and most important thing is to admit to people around you that you're not able to do this," he said.

"And once you've admitted that, then you can go and get some help, and the help is there." 1

an elderly man in a blue sweater holding two printed certificates beside a woman in dark ceremonial robes and a chain of office — *Alan Hannay with his Turning Pages certificates on 6 October. Photograph: Read Easy, via BBC News 1*

Read Easy presented those certificates on 6 October, after his first two manuals. The charity calls him "an inspiring example of determination and courage". 1

The field that keeps giving things up

A plot off Manton Lane in Bedford, owned by a care home company, has been dug over in squares since 2011, when a masonry wall first came up. 4

Roof tiles, pottery, coins, iron tools, stone and mortar followed.

In 2016 the volunteers opened a bigger area and found a room with under-floor heating — a hypocaust — plus a collapsed wall and signs the hillside had been terraced in the Roman period. 4

Then, in October last year, came the find that changed the project: a large rectangular Roman building, in ground written off as empty. 4

"It's putting Bedford on the map of Roman Britain," said Mike Luke, the archaeologist who directs the digging and gives his time free. 4

Steve Cockings, the chairman, thinks the villa is one of the most lavishly decorated buildings of late Roman Britain, on a site that 1980s archaeology wrote off as a backwater.

"We now know that we are located in one of the heartlands of this Roman province," he said. 4

The team has also found stucco moulding in a style Luke says is the only example of its kind yet found in Roman Britain. 4

people working with mattocks and buckets across a wide area of opened trenches in a field — *Volunteers in the trenches during this year's dig, which has now finished and been covered over. Photograph: Alex Pope/BBC 5*

This season has just ended, with more wall coming up in October. The site is covered over again, and two things decide whether there is another season: money, and the care home company's permission. Cockings also wants to publish a book. 5

The work here is unpaid. Luke gives his time. Joan Lightning, 63, does survey work for Albion Archaeology in her day job and digs here as a volunteer. "Normally I'd be sitting at a computer dealing with surveys," she said. 5

The animator with a mattock

Alistair Douglas, 56, drives up from St Albans on time off from designing animation — Peppa Pig, Mr Bean, Charlie and Lola. He has enrolled on a history course at Birkbeck and would like to become an archaeologist. 5

"Seeing it come to light for the first time in 1,500 years is fantastic," he said. "It wasn't a small house. It would have had a bath house and some of the mod cons." 5

Holly Williams, 23, and her mother Emma Clark, 52, found the dig through its Facebook page. "It's a chance in a lifetime for us," Clark said. "I ache in places that I never knew I could ache." 5

Nick Hingston, 63, worked for the care home company and got permission for the dig in the first place. Now he sieves the spoil. "Nobody has touched that for 1,500 years," he said. "It's humbling." 5

a man in a high-visibility jacket holding a piece of brown tile in a field, with a wheelbarrow and portable toilets behind him — *Steve Cockings with a piece of unwashed third-century tile. Photograph: Alex Pope/BBC 5*

Luke said this year's dig was oversubscribed with volunteers, including people who had never worked in archaeology. 5

If you know someone who cannot read, Read Easy's group finder takes a postcode. If you would rather dig, the Bedford project posts its dates on Facebook, and it needs money and people. 2 6

The part I keep coming back to is the dull middle. Half an hour on Tuesday, half an hour on Thursday. The same field, every autumn since 2011. Then a certificate is in your hands, or a piece of third-century tile comes out of a bucket, and the Tuesdays turn out to have been the point.

References

1
Learning to read at 86 has changed my whole life
bbc.co.uk
2
Learn to read
readeasy.org.uk
3
Volunteer
readeasy.org.uk
4
Volunteers discover 'significant' Roman building
bbc.com
5
From Peppa Pig to volunteering at Bedford Roman villa dig
bbc.co.uk
6
Bedford Roman Villa Project
facebook.com