[1] Bidwell moved to northern England in 1980 to excavate at the fort of Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Arbeia, South Shields became a training ground for archaeologists and the socially inclusive excavations he led were a forerunner to what is now called Community archaeology.
[2] In addition to running the archaeology team, Bidwell made a significant contribution to museology, especially at Arbeia and he led the development for the new museum at Segedunum in the 1990s, opening in 2000.
In 2009, TWM Archaeology hosted the 21st International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies in Newcastle upon Tyne.
[3] Bidwell helped found the Arbeia Society[4] in 1991 and to celebrate its 30th anniversary, some of his colleagues prepared a book of papers in his honour which was published shortly before his death in November 2022.