Family Fun Day 2026

I am pleased to announce that our annual Family Fun Day event will be running on the 28th February at Marchmont St Giles Parish Church.

We gratefully acknowledge that part of the funding for our Family Fun Day is provided from a Student Experience Grant which is funded by the University of Edinburgh Development Trust. Without this ongoing support we would not be able to fund these projects which do so much for the quality of the student learning experience at the University of Edinburgh. We would like to thank all alumni, staff and other donors who support the Development Trust, including through its unrestricted Edinburgh Fund.

We would also like to thank the generous support of the EUSA Student Opportunities Development Fund and the HCA Charles Mackie Student Initiative Fund for helping make this project possible.

Semester One 2025 Update

Hello everyone! I’m Rebecca and I’m the new EAOP President for this academic year.

Our new committe sees many familiar faces returning, but we are also welcoming in the following new members:

• Michaela Hamman: Events officer
• Leila Hajek: Wellbeing and Inclusion Officer
• Fran Jameson: General Member
• Katie Pratt: General Member
• James Dryden: Postgraduate Representative

A big thank you goes out to our entire committee, who have done a fantastic job at organising this semesters sessions and socials!

We ran six sessions this sesmester, reaching about 130 children and young people across Edinburgh. Two of these sessions were ran in collaboration with Children’s Holiday Venture – another student run charity here in Edinburgh!

Over the last semester, our volunteering team grew to over 100 members. This is a wonderful turnout, and I’m so happy to see so many people passionate about the work EAOP does.

I am also happy to announce, that our Family Fun Day will be returning this year on Saturday 28th February at Marchmont St Giles Parish Church from 10am-4pm. A poster shall be shared soon!

We are all looking forward to what semester 2 shall bring. Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far.

Semester 2 Update – Annual Summary

This past year, I have had the privilege of being the president of EAOP. While a big responsibility, it was so fun and rewarding.

While president, I:

• organised our annual Family Fun Day, which was attended by 200+ people
• held sessions with IntoUniversity and the Royal Blind School, reaching children who would not usually have the opportunity to try out archaeological skills
• increased the number of socials for our members, leading to over 100 people signing up for a membership
• updated our long neglected website, including adding direct feedback from sessions and uploading digital resources for the public to use

I am so proud to have been part of such an amazing, hardworking committee. Together, we introduced many young people to archaeology, and hopefully inspired some future archaeologists. Next year, I am handing the reigns over to Rebecca Whittaker, who I know will do an excellent job. I am taking on the role of treasurer, and I can’t wait to try a new set of responsibilities!

Eve Jeffreys (President 2024/25)

Semester One 2024 Update

Hello everyone! The EAOP website is back and better than ever. As the president, I wanted to let you all know how great this semester has gone!

All our sessions this semester have gone great. We had a lot of demand from Brownie groups and so had 5 sessions with Brownies. It was so fun to help the girls achieve their Archaeology badges, and one group was even kind enough to award us with our own badges! I will treasure mine forever… Some of the activities we delivered this semester were cave painting, Roman face pot making, hieroglyphs, and of course the ever-faithful dig pit.

The EAOP community has been wonderful to be a part of. We have had so much enthusiasm for volunteers and it has been lovely to see so many new faces at each session. We also had some great socials this semester which were a fun way to meet everyone and get to know our fellow volunteers, while getting stuck in with some crafts along the way!

Next semester, we will be running our annual Family Fun Day on the 1st of March. We also have a session with the Royal Blind School, as well as an outreach day with IntoUniversity. So many exciting things to come! 

See you next semester,

Eve Jeffreys (President 2024/25)