SITE DEVELOPMENTS
The trouble with erecting the GWR fencing acquired some years ago is that it then needs painting. Our colleagues from the Elmdon Model Engineering Society erected a length of fence at the side of their track near the admission hut recently and it has since had the loose paint removed, treated with a coat of red oxide, undercoated and now needs a gloss top coat.
Mention of the admission area reminds me that the hut has recently been re-felted to keep it waterproof by Malcolm Keeley, assisted by his wife, Yvonne. Additional lighting has also be provided in this area. Members who have not been to the museum site on a weekday may not realise that our car park is now used by the new occupiers of the church (GPN Limited) and as a consequence a security guard occupies the admission hut to prevent unauthorised access to our site. Whilst this arrangement brings the Trust financial benefits some time has had to be spent in resolving problems with the electricity supply to the admission hut.
Moving further in to the site, Mick Doolan has recently tidied the shrubs by bus display area and the railway carriages. Alex Potts has provided a light to make access to the rear of the railway carriages safer. Alex also did his annual re-arrangement of the plumbing of the loos so that during the winter only limited facilities are in use and hence there is less to freeze in hard weather. Yet another job by Alex was to provide a light in the cubicle in the loos that is in use over winter!
An ongoing project is to rationalise and tidy the workshop areas. To this end the bench with the metal sheers was moved in to the engineering area alongside the pit during the October events day and the whole area has been reorganised. The overall aim is to provide more clear workspace and to discourage the area being left in a mess.
Most work on site is done by our own volunteers but we decided it was time to call in the professionals to deal with problems on the roofs of both the main halls. Leaks in the Scania Hall have been cured and a considerable weight of accumulated debris removed from the gutters of the Shire Hall.
The area to the side of the Shire Hall has seen some activity in recent weeks. Mike Jordan and Dave Brown have sold one of their Bedford lorries and this needed to be extracted. Pete Murphy also decided to return his engine and gearbox to ‘CKO’ which normally lives outside so the vehicle was moved inside for a week to allow the work to be done. The vehicle is now back outside under the blue ‘tent’ Peter has erected to keep the elements off.
Phil Ireland
Chapel Lane, Wythall, Worcs B47 6JX
Tel : 01564 826471 e-mail us
A registered educational charity no 507191
