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Sandfields Waterworks Pumping Engine

mikejee said:
Up above volunteers are beginning the work of removing the corrosion of 14 years. Already in places the brasswork is beginning to gleam as it used to, though much remains to be done, as they have only had a few weeks so far on the job. The large beam which supports the components sits above it all.
It was a very interesting visit and my thanks to Morturn for allowing it. I took 100 photos, a few were rubbish , but, other than that, all interesting . however only space for a few here.


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what a fantasic place. and to be able to visit.it . how heavy is the beam?
Morturn said:
When we did the updated photo, guess where I chose to stand? The pumping station (my) dog was called Ben, unfortunately he died last year. Our new pumping station dog, is called Joe, named after Joe Plant.

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just great pics well done all. and. joe and in memory of ben bless.
 
Great documentary Mort - informative insight into the issues of cholera and clean water. And such foresight by South Staffs to consider arrangements for the preservation of the pumping station after it had outgrown its usefulness.

One thing that’s striking is how it was originally a struggle to muster support for its development. What a fascinating and innovating piece of history. Thanks for updating us. And a big thank you to all those volunteers who’ve made this possible. Viv.
 
This former Fairfax School student worked at the Station laboratory while it was still in operation. Wonder where he is now ! Viv.

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Thanks Mort. I can imagine it was a good place to work and an interesting work environment. Viv.
 
Hi Viv, it seems that South Staffs Water did hold a very regimented regime. We know this from personal testimony and by the vast archive they accumulated over many years. They recorded every single transaction, even washers had to be signed for in triplicate.

Saying that, they also were good at employee retention and they have a good record of long-term employment.

Here is an oral recording of one of the lab staff who would have worked with Wayne. Enjoy
 
That machine looks very familiar. Did not use it myself as it was not my speciality, but think Cadburys bought one at about that time
 
Mort,

That was a very interesting audio and not many people record these things for posterity. It's good to know what someone looked like, but just as equally interesting to hear them speak. I have some relatives on my mother's side recorded at a party in 1955 and my brother made a recording of my mother, but now he's gone I have to make some enquiries about what happened to it.

Interesting that Keith decribed his workplace as Dickensian because I think many council-run places could be described in similar terms in the mid-1950s. Certainly BCT Head Office in the Council House extension was very similar during my time there between 1953 and 1959. Distinct pecking orders, which didn't correspond to their pay grades so much as how long they had worked there and how much more tolerance that was shown to them by higher management. This was particularly obvious in some that had held junior officer ranks in the services, even though in all other respects some of them were pretty useless. Very cliquey. I have heard that some civil service departments could be very similar. When I moved to commercial companies the attitude was at least 30 years in advance of this. Thanks for posting it.

Maurice :cool:
 
very interesting recording mort thanks...maurice i also have an old recording taken round about 1962 of a family that lived in my street...mom..dad and two young children talking and singing...mom and dad sadly not here now but a few years ago i was able to get this recording to the rest of the family including those two little children now all grown up...what a treat for them to be able to hear their parents voices again...

lyn
 
Mort,

I like the 70s gear and the hair - very becoming.

We followed along not dissimilar paths, but I had to let mine (no pun intended) go. During most of the 1980s and the early 1990s I was a member of the Northern Mines Research Society, but I was living in Bournemouth & all of their field trips were up north, so active participation via them was not practical. For a time some friends had a small estate at St Breward on Bodmin Moor, so we would holiday with them and look around what was left of the tin mines. When they moved to Jersey - the wife was the daughter of a Jersey judge - we switched holidays to either north Wales or the Yorkshire Dales and did the non-ferrous metalliferous mines there.

If we were within reach of the Ellandroad Engine House near Rochdale and they were having a steamup, we would go to that. Then it was a bit of a scruffy place and they would rely on burning anything including old pallets as they had few volunteers. Nowadays it's a fairly posh museum and nicely painted with a few smaller engines as well. We also used to do the Welsh slate mines, but apart from the National Slate Museum, that's all gone and quite a lot has been fenced off.

Down south in Dorset we only had one remaining Purback ball clay mine and a few scattered remains of tramways, but abandoned clay mines literally cave in on themselves rather like quicksand, so there is usually not a lot to see. In addition the pipes are now made of plastic or concrete and not a lot of demand for ball clay. NMRS publish dozens of monograms and I gave away my collection before I moved to Crete, many of them now out of print. Good stuff.

On an island of solid limestone we have no mines, just gypsum and marble quarries which are pretty mucky and they don't really like you wandering around their operation. https://www.nmrs.org.uk/ Keep up the good work.

Maurice :cool:
 
Maurice, I photographed one of the small steam engines now at Ellandroad still working in a leather tannery in the early 80’s. It was a marvellous place, like a Dickens film set. The chemist managed to trash the film while developing it for me.

Nice to see that the engine survived. It was just like one at Nocks Brickworks on Holly Lane, Erdington

Here is a bit of footage of Ellandroad

I do think it is important we record the past as best we can, so if anyone is thinking of recording their relatives or friends, please do so. Always happy to give advice when recording oral histories.
 
Thanks. Mort, good to see more of those places are being resuscitated, but as you know, volunteers and funds are the key to this. My middle son being a recording engineer, and still trapped here due to to lockdown & lack of flights, spends his time recording sound effects for later use. Apart from a few old shoemakers, there is no industry here as raw materials would have to be ferried in and finished goods ferried out, which is a big cost factor making the whole manufacturing operation uneconomic. So this island is given over to olives, sultanas, tomatoes, wine, & bananas in roughly that order! :)

Maurice :cool:
 
Yes, they do Mike, mostly on the south coast and they are shortish, slightly curly, and sweet. Nice bananas and much tastier that the larger, generally harvested when green, supermarket stuff, though they are in all the Greek supermarkets. Not sure how many get exported.

Maurice :cool:
 
Morturn said:
Hi folks, you can watch the article again on BBC iPlayer here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ql4gs


It been a long and complicated project, but at last we are now making study progress. We have negotiated with the owners a licence to enter the building and conduct a feasibility study.


From this study, we can build and business plan and apply for funding from Heritage Lottery and other commercial companies.


We want to save and get this unique piece of industrial heritage open so that the community can learn about the story of clean water.
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Bringing an old chat back to life but are you still involved in the Pumphouse Mort? I’ve been to a couple of open days and the live gig they did there. A Lovely old building. I live on the road it is on and would love to help out.
 
Just caught back up to this thread. A week or so ago I watched a business news television station where some very serious investors were discussing potential investment opportunities in the 5 to 7 year range. They mostly agreed, some more than others that water supply and associated equipment will be in great demand, this even that some populations are flat to negative the importance of water will be very strong. A little bit of a sleeper I thought, AI and all that stuff were on the list but water was the odd item out and high on the list.
 
poker_pete82 said:
Bringing an old chat back to life but are you still involved in the Pumphouse Mort? I’ve been to a couple of open days and the live gig they did there. A Lovely old building. I live on the road it is on and would love to help out.
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I am not now involved with this site and stepped down as chairman in October 2021. I managed to negotiate the owners giving the building to a charitable trust that I set up for £1.00 and that the owners would also give the trust a lump sum of £400,000. The aim was to invest the lump sum via a charity investment fund manager that would adequately fund the trust to keep the building in perpetuity.

My views on volunteer management, financial management and the preservation of historical heritage objects and sites were at odds with some of the other trustees.
 
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