When S.J. was small she really wanted to be a writer, then she learnt about dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures and wanted to be a palaeontologist. A little later she discovered anthropology — studying ancient humans and civilisations — and wanted to do that. She also loved animals and fancied that she’d make a good zoologist.

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Unfortunately she struggled at school due to undiagnosed but widely acknowledged dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia, and was unable to study the sciences that were required to pursue these subjects at university.

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However, dreams sometimes come true in ways you’d never expect, and in 2023 she met Sally and Dr Nev Hollingworth, who discovered the Cerney Wick site that featured on the documentary Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard. The Hollingworths invited S.J. to join their army of volunteers called Tusk Force, and she participated in the digs there in 2023, 2024, and 2025, literally seeing mammoth bones, tusks, and teeth being pulled from the mud after millennia.

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S.J. also assisted in preparation for the display of the dig finds at the 2025 exhibition at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester — Mammoths at the Museum.

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It was truly a dream come true and proof of the proverb — there is more than one way up a mountain — or in this case, to dig a hole!