BWTAS Update…

While this blog has been rather quiet of late, there has been a lot of activity going on in the background…  We held our committee meeting in Wenhaston, back in January, to plan the year ahead and following that, a second follow up meeting took place in Halesworth to review progress and further flesh out our programme and advance other projects. This has resulted in rather more work than originally envisaged!

One of the projects being undertaken…

A BWTAS weekend excursion is planned around 'water' — the proposal is to include a walk along the Cromford canal and a visit to the Victorian Papplewick Pumping Station. While in the area, the plan is to take in nearby water towers — not just the public supply towers, but including those at public attractions such as Rufford Abbey or Shipley Hall…   40 potential locations have been investigated! All this has taken rather longer than anticipated and now, may possibly be held over for next year.

A day out for members was also proposed and we are planning to go to Tiptree water tower next month. We last visited in August 2013: Lots to see at Tiptree… when conversion of this 1933, brick water tower (one of the last to be built) had only just commenced. Conversion is now complete and we have been invited back. Members will be getting an e-mail shortly and details will also be posted here too.

The BWTAS display boards were showing their age, so new light weight boards have been designed and produced. Additionally, since the supply of Nat's water tower leaflet has been exhausted, a new A3, BWTAS leaflet has now been designed and printed. The display boards and leaflets had their first public outing on 8^th June, at the East of England Regional Industrial Archaeology Conference:

Not only did we bring BWTAS to people's attention, we also bolstered the society's funds by selling copies of Dr. Barry Barton's “Water Towers of Britain”. BWTAS's next public event is at the Essex Industrial Heritage Fair in Chelmsford, on the 5^th October. It would be nice to see you there.

Disappointed that a festive Yuletide model water tower had sold out, prompted the thought that perhaps we should produce our own model water tower… After much deliberation, the Victorian "Jumbo" water tower in Colchester was chosen as the most suited to be made into a card model, that could be distributed in kit form. Much work was undertaken by Mark Beesley to produce the Mk. I kit, that was then built by the committee members to prove it's feasibility — the results can be seen in the first image, above. As if that wasn't enough, BWTAS committee member, Brian Light has been writing a book on the history of this tower and is due to be launched next month.

Ferrers