It is with great regret that we have to start this newsletter with some very sad news indeed, and that is to inform you that Norman Paul passed away on the 16 December whilst in hospital. This has come as a terrible shock to all of us and in particular to the Friends of the Royal Gunpowder Mills. Norman had been battling a very bad chest infection for several weeks, and with the advice from his doctor was admitted into hospital on the 11 December. After a long career working in then ERDE, Norman played an important part as a member of the company board in getting the attraction off the ground. Since then he has continued to support the attraction, and we will miss his cheerful presence.
It was also sad to hear of the loss of Don Spinks he was a major figure in Waltham Abbey and the Lee Valley, and it was due to his tenacity and stamina that the project to turn the Mills into a visitor attraction succeeded. That was recognised by the company by naming one of its buildings as the Spinks gallery. Don was actively engaged with the project since the early 1990's when a Trust Steering Committee was set up in order to apply for Heritage Lottery Funding. When the Operating Company was set up in 1998 Don was its first Chairman, and remained on the Company Board until 2001. During his time here
Don was also a Trustee on the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills Foundation Trust. He will be sadly missed.
Company News – Lynne Lennard
Another year nearly over and it has been one of our busiest to date. Our main summer season finished on the 7 October and we then went straight into the Gunpowder Treason & Plot and Victorian Christmas for the school children. We saw some 2,500 school children throughout the months of November and December. This time of year is our busiest time for the education visits.
The official opening of our 2007 season was carried out by Carolyn Grace the world’s only female spitfire pilot. This was the first time that Carolyn had visited the site, well from the ground ! She did a tremendous job of meeting and greeting our visitors, many of whom were thrilled to have their photograph taken with her. The arranged 1 hour visit turned out to be several hours by the time she left the site, and we are most grateful to Carolyn for fitting us into her very tight work schedule.
Visitor numbers continue to be on the increase with a total number for 2007 of 21,618 an increase of 3,000 from 2006. This has been largely due to the increase in advertising and the full programme of events that is on offer. This year we hosted two new events, The Knights of Royal England with their jousting and The Golden Eagle Archers with their Legend of Robin Hood event, both events were very well attended. We are extremely pleased to announce that both acts will be back with us for our 2008 season along with a couple of other new events.
We are proud to announce that The Royal Gunpowder Mills has been chosen as the main anchor point for a new regional tourism route. The new route -The Industrious East – celebrates the East of England’s industrial Heritage and also forms part of the wider European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). The site was designated as the ERIH anchor point in recognition of its prominence as a gateway to the region, its historical significance and the up to date facilities if offers to visitors. The route features 29 further attractions demonstrating the wealth of industrial heritage in Essex and the Eastern Region. The official launch for the route was held here at the site on the 4 July.
A PDF version of the map showing the route can be downloaded from our website at www.royalgunpowdermills.com/erih_map.pdf
We are further pleased to announce that we were awarded the best use of a training grant award for the Leisure, Tourism and Heritage Sector for the Towards 2010 business skill programme. The Towards 2010 scheme is funded by the Essex Development and Regeneration Agency EXDRA, East of England Development Agency EEDA, East of England and European Union Social Fund. The funding was used for the various training of the education staff and office staff.
Our assessment by the East of England Tourist Board went well, and they again were pleased to inform us that the attraction comfortably merits the Visitor Attraction Quality Assured services award. Areas of excellence again were the film and Main exhibition, plus the land train tours.
For some time the Company has been pursuing options for the sale of the Powerhouse site. This would ensure the restoration and proper maintenance of the iconic Powerhouse building, which provides an impressive visual backdrop to the Queen Meads event arena.
The sale was finally completed in the summer. The Company welcomes its new neighbour, Hill Residential, a developer and housebuilder: it will use the land and buildings as its corporate headquarters offices. Although price details are confidential, the Company is satisfied with the money it has received, and is confident that the Powerhouse and adjacent buildings will be well looked after. Hill exhibited the plans by its architect, which show a restoration of the outside of the building to its original 1915 appearance. Some further development of the area, previously planned, has been constrained by recent changes to Government flooding criteria in response to the threat from global warming.
Our 2008 season begins on Saturday 26 April and ends on Sunday 28 September. Opening times remain the same 11.00 am to 5.00 pm with last entry to the site at 3.30 pm.
Events programme for 2008 is:
26/27 April Napoleonic Association
3/4/5 May VE Day with the Grace Spitfire on Bank Holiday Monday
17/18 May Steam Fair 2008
24/25/26 May Regia Anglorum, Saxon and Norman re enactment
7/8 June English Civil War (by the Sealed Knot Society)
14/15 June The Die Hards re enactment
21/22 June Rocket & Space (new)
5/6 July Multi Period re enactment
12/13 July Medieval Jousting Display, Knights of Royal Arkley
19/20 July Victorian Experience, family activity event
26/27 July English Civil War (by the ECW Society)
2/3 August Medieval Siege Society
9/10 August Classic Vehicle Show
16/17 August American Civil War re enactment
23/24/25 The Legend of Robin Hood, Golden Eagle Archers
6/7 September Essex Militia, Living History
13/14 September Home Front, Family Activities
20/21 September WWI Display
27/28 September Guy Fawkes Experience (Last weekend of the 2008 season)
Marketing up date - Mark Mortlock
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has contributed to the advertising of events during the 2007 season by distributing posters, flyers and leaflets for us. The 2008 leaflet has now been printed, so please do not hesitate to pick up a copy for yourself, and also take any quantities you may want to put in areas where potential visitors to the site may pick them up. I am in no doubt that leaflet distribution this year has helped to push up our visitor numbers. For 2008 we have had 80,000 leaflets printed. 42,000 of these will be distributed in Hotels, B&Bs, Libraries, Supermarkets, Service Stations and at other attractions throughout Essex and Hertfordshire. However, we still rely on the generosity of volunteers and supporters to distribute leaflets in any places we may have missed. So please continue to help us distribute them to attract new and repeat visitors. Event posters will be ready from March 2008 so feel free to pick these up in the main exhibition entrance behind the counter as soon as they are printed.
The site has also benefited from a large amount of PR this year from press coverage on most events during the 2007 season to other events not in the main events calendar. Perhaps the most interesting of which was the handing over of a George Cross by John Sylvester (son of William Sylvester) this August. The medal was earned by William Sylvester, who has since passed away, one of three men to receive a medal for their bravery during the series of explosions that took place at the Royal Gunpowder Mills on the 18th January 1940. William Sylvester stood guard over more than a ton of Nitroglycerin to ensure it did not explode. Had it exploded it would have more than certainly added to the casualty numbers on site that day. This particular batch of Nitroglycerin was in the crucial stages of purification and still extremely volatile whilst other explosions and debris rained down on the site. The George Cross will be on display for all to see at the beginning of the 2008 season.
Next year we hope to see even more press coverage as we will start to advertise our events further a field in places we haven’t been able to before such as Harlow, Chelmsford, Romford and Southend.
We continue along with our volunteers to attend trade fairs to raise awareness of the site, this year we attended the Lea Valley Bird Fair, the Waltham Abbey Town Show, the Waltham Forest Festival, Waltham Abbey Winter Watch, the Essex Leisure and Tourism Show, plus numerous leaflet swapping events. Next year we kick off our trade fairs calendar with the Essex Leisure and Tourism Show again which continues to grow from strength to strength and is perhaps our best chance of getting our leaflets into the hands of surrounding Tourist Information Centres.
2008 looks in good shape with some new events, plus the growth of our more popular ones. Hope to see you all there!
Site News – Brian Harvey
It is Tuesday May 29th 2007. I am just starting to thaw out following one of the most horrendous weekends of springtime weather that Britain could offer. (If I hear global warming mentioned one more time I’ll clout somebody!) Now I shouldn’t have been surprised because not only was it a Bank Holiday weekend but it was also the weekend of the annual flood fest known as The Enfield Motoring Pageant. (I think they were still trying to pull vehicles from the mud stuck there from last year’s show).
We were offering a multi-period event with small groups from various periods of history including Medieval, Napoleonic, First World War, Second World War and our good friends Grymm Tooms with their strange display of curios from the Victorian era. (God knows why sailors were attracted to mermaids if they all looked like that!) A lot of the displays were fortunately inside, but some poor devils had to brave it outside on Queens Mead under canvas. Saturday was ok, dull but mostly dry, Sunday it rained buckets all day which was a bit of a shame for our visitors from the Morgan Sports Car Club who proudly put on display fifteen of the prettiest sports cars ever built. I then foolishly remarked, “It can’t get any worse than this can it?”
Oh yes it could because then along came Monday! By the time I arrived on site half of the tents had been damaged by the high winds and the Meads was getting ready to take a rice crop. The only inhabitant on the Meads who didn’t look frozen to death was the medieval smithy who had managed to keep his forge going. I took pity on the campers and I could see the relief on their faces when I released them from their obligations and said they could pack up what was left of their encampment and go home if they wished. I was rather hoping someone would say the same to me. Alas it wasn’t to be and I got set for a wild, wet and windy day.
The newspapers said it was colder in Britain that day than in parts of Siberia. I wouldn’t argue with that, the wind was whistling in from the North and was reaching parts of the body that even my thermals couldn’t resist. The wind was so strong that for a while I was even considering whether it was safe to open the site at all, but after doing a tour of the site with my colleague Liz and doing the mandatory risk assessment, we decided to go for it and open the site for the expected half dozen visitors daft enough to come out in such weather.
I reckoned without the stoic Great British public, there was a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, all wearing that “It’s a Bank Holiday Monday and I’m blowed if the weather is going to stop me” look on their faces. All the interior based living history events were doing a good trade and “P J”, who was offering children’s activities in the Tower, was having no difficulty in getting the children to dress up in the various costumes on offer. She had a greater problem in getting them back off again as most of them found them considerably warmer (and drier) than the clothes they came in.
Judging by the feedback from the visitors leaving the site it seems all 147 of them enjoyed themselves, apart from the one individual who couldn’t understand why we weren’t running the Land Train!
I don’t consider myself particularly knowledgeable when it comes to wildlife, my job is mainly involved with emptying litter bins and putting hands down toilets, (No I haven’t got a strange fetish, it’s just they get blocked more often than I would like). However, with so much wildlife around it’s difficult not to get involved sometime during the season with our permanent residents. This year it seems to be the stinging variety of our insect population that has furthered my education.
Bees, now I don’t have a problem with bees, they normally mind their own business and get on with the job of producing honey and helping the gardeners with pollination while they do so, and apart from seeing the odd one flying around they’re almost anonymous on site. Not so this year.
Round the back of the old Steam Powered Incorporating Mill L148 there is one of our garden seats, nicely positioned with views over Middle Canal to the old Accumulator Tower of L149. Walking past it one day during the Spring I could see a strange growth had appeared beneath the slats that hadn’t been there the day before. It almost looked like a bunch of grapes hanging beneath the seat, although I had never seen grapes this colour before and on closer inspection I could see the outside layer was actually moving.
Yep, you’ve guessed it, it was a swarm of bees – honey bees…apparently if a hive generates a second queen it’s like having two women in one kitchen, one of them has to go before blood is spilt. She leaves the hive and takes with her sufficient workers to form a new colony. While the scouts go looking for a permanent residence the swarm spends a few days temporarily hanging from any convenient spot, usually a branch of a tree or the eaves of a building. It was amazing to see how the whole weight of the colony was being suspended from the few bees on top of the bunch who were hanging on to the woodwork. You could almost see the clenched teeth and the white knuckles as they hung on for grim death. They don’t feed during this period but as it’s only for a couple of days survival is not a problem, but the longer they go without food the rattier they become (particularly those with the clenched teeth and white knuckles)! We fenced off the bench to protect our visitors and waited for them to depart.
One week later we were still waiting, and to compound matters another swarm had appeared attaching themselves to the side of an adjacent building. Where are they all coming from? I even made enquiries about having them collected by local beekeepers in the mistaken belief that with the chance of a having a new colony they would collect them for free. Not so and as the swarm had been hanging around for several days (literally) they were unlikely to be taken peacefully! Fortunately both swarms disappeared as quickly as they came and hopefully are now comfortably housed in one of our derelict buildings and well away from our visitors. I have an empty honey pot handy in case I discover their new home.
Now bees I have a soft spot for as I consider they are pretty useful creatures to have around, wasps are another matter, and during the summer they managed to penetrate several of my “soft spots”. We first noticed them diving in and out of a hole in the ground by the boardwalk leading to the Island Site. There were only a few so we thought we’d live with it as it was only a small nest and anyway would have been difficult to get rid of. As the summer progressed the activity seemed to increase and strangely enough another hole appeared nearby that looked as though it had been dug out by some kind of animal. Looking down this newly excavated hole I could see right into the nest with some of the comb exposed and the body of wasps working away inside.
So what animal would want to attack a wasp’s nest? Well it seems as though our Badgers are the likely culprits. Although their diet consists mostly of earthworms they apparently are not averse to fluffing up their fur and raiding a wasps nest to feast on the grubs inside. They’re quite happy to put up with a few stings on the nose and in their mouth in exchange for a free meal. It almost looks as though they’re harvesting the nest because they’ve made repeated visits to it and never destroy it enough to stop it functioning.
This is all very well for the Badgers but I’m now faced with a nest full of rather miffed wasps very close to a footpath with heavy visitor traffic. A risk assessment suggests warning signs are the answer. Armed with mallet and a post with warning sign firmly attached I started to hammer it in at the entrance to the nest. After a couple of wallops I became aware of a buzzing sensation around my head followed very quickly by a stinging sensation in my neck. I obviously hadn’t thought this one through – a nest full of angry wasps and the equivalent of a pile driver knocking on their front door it was hardly likely they were going to invite me in for a cup of tea and a slice of cake! After a few more stings I eventually got the message and ran for cover to my office, fortunately only a short distance away. I don’t do running, creaking knees and wheezing lungs usually restrict me at best to a fast walk, but if the England selectors for the next Olympics were watching they might have considered me for the 100 metres. Safe in the sanctuary of my office I contemplated my narrow escape and started to count my lumps but was interrupted by the familiar buzzing around my head followed by the inevitable zap. One of the little b……s had followed me in. Its triumph was short-lived however, as Lynne alerted by my yelps of pain came in and flattened it with a ruler. (A bit out of character this, if it had been an orphaned budgerigar with half a beak it might have had a better chance of survival…no please don’t ask)!
The nest is now safely cordoned off and I always give it a wide berth in case the wasps recognize me. Now if only those Badgers would do their job properly!
For those of you who subscribe to the “Touchpaper” publication produced by the Friends Association, you might have noticed an article in the September issue concerning the fish in Newton’s Pool. It was written by Norman Paul, who, when he’s not editing Touchpaper, manages to find the time to do some guiding duties on our Land Train. He has noticed, as I have recently, that the large carp in the pool are always waiting by the sluice when the tractor pulls up. In the past it was purely luck whether any of these monsters would make an appearance for the visitors but now you can almost guarantee it. The reason behind this is probably due to the Land Train drivers, some of whom have started to take food along with them in the tractor and feed the fish while the train makes it’s traditional stop at this beauty spot. This is appreciated both by the fish and the visitors but probably not as much by the guides who now find their commentary is drowned out by the oohs and ahs from the passengers.
I don’t know whether the fish can hear the Land Train coming or they have worked out our timetable and lie in wait at the appropriate time…as I said I don’t know too much about wildlife. I do know that if we visit that area in our other site vehicles it’s again a lottery if we see them or not. Answers please on a postcard.
Norman Paul - Sadly, after the above notes were written, Norman Paul passed away. As a volunteer and a member of the Friends Association Norman contributed a great deal to the success of the Gunpowder Mills and the Land Train has lost one of its more entertaining guides. He will be sorely missed.
Volunteer News – Liz Went
Thank you to all who have helped keep ‘the show on the road’ this season. It’s heart warming to see it getting bigger and better each year, well done.
We have been joined by some new volunteers this season who have helped with education visits, stewarding, driving, conservation, admin and the railway.
This year we have also been joined by the probation service; they have most recently been clearing the overflow car park so the surveyors could have access.
The group of conservation volunteers from Voluntary Action Epping Forest who started in May this year work hard every Wednesday morning doing various tasks around the site.
Epping Forest Countrycare have helped us out again this year with corporate team task days and we are particularly grateful to Paul Sutton of EFDC who kindly organised a conservation grant for the purchase of the wire mesh to cover our boardwalks.
I held a volunteer meeting on Wednesday 13th June for volunteers who work on site on a Wednesday as there had been practical difficulties due to various different volunteer groups and individuals all working on the same day and needing our limited supply of tools and equipment. There was good attendance and useful discussion resolving immediate problems and volunteers were keen at the suggestion of further meetings, it was agreed for one every three months. We made a list of tools etc that were needed and as a result new equipment was purchased by the company, including a lawn mower, brush cutter and a ride on mower. The second meeting was held on Wednesday 26th September and was opened up to any volunteers who wished to attend. It was discussed at the meetings that we will have an annual meeting to report our achievements for the year and our plans for the coming year; all the volunteers present were keen to make a presentation at this annual meeting and it was decided the best time for this would be in February. I will let all the volunteers know the arrangements for the February meeting in the New Year.
I was asked by Voluntary Action Epping Forest if I would join their board of trustees and was voted on at their AGM in September. We have had close connections with VAEF for a number of years as they have referred volunteers to us and we have held events together. I am positive that there will be benefits to both organisations with our continued affiliation.
The room at the end of building L180 (near the café/toilets) is being converted into a new volunteer base. We plan to have a kitchen area for making drinks, a seating area for breaks and eating lunch, lockers, a notice board and possibly a desk and computer. A big thank you to all who have worked very hard on it so far.
I attended a family fun day at the local Holdbrook Estate with our display boards. The event was organised by Ground Work who are working with the community to improve the area for the residents. Ground Work have organised several conservation Team Tasks at the Mills over the season with support from staff and volunteers here.
The End Of Season Get Together was very well attended with over 60 guests, a good job we held it in the café this year. There were good comments about the displays of photos and reports from the season thank you to all the volunteers who provided them and some very good comments about the food, thanks again to the caterers. Trevor thanked the volunteers for their support over the season and spoke of the positive benefits of our new neighbours to be in the power house.
Victorian Christmas Day went very smoothly; all the visitors seemed to enjoy the experience. Even the sun came out for us. Well done all who were involved.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and new year and again thank all of you for all you do for the Mills.
Administration – Anna Saczek
Since joining the Royal Gunpowder Mills in April this year I have been involved with and provided administrative support on a number of exciting projects and in the day to day operational tasks. I have enjoyed working closely with many of the volunteers both out on site and in organizing the rotas, I am very grateful to all those who have put up with me badgering them on a weekly basis to drive and guide tours on the land train, Thanks!
I am really excited to be involved in the new blitz project, which is all going very well, and we hope to complete during the next couple of months. I have been sourcing items relating to the home front which I hope will enhance the experience!
We have had a new addition to the team, who some of you may have met already. I can tell you that he’s settling in very well and I’m sure would love to say a big hello to everyone, though at the moment his vocabulary is rather limited to “pretty boy” and “baby baby boy”! For those of you who haven’t guessed who I’m talking about yet, he is of course Barclay the budgie, who resides in the administration office, he’s a real character and loves all the attention he gets from volunteers! We’re hoping he can start answering the phones soon!
Education and Group Visits – Lynn Duke
The education team have just finished a very busy period with Gunpowder Treason and Plot during the last week of October and the first week in November.
This involved One hundred and fifty children every day for two weeks, visiting five different bases during their day here. This is one of our most popular education programmes, and we have already taken bookings for 2008, with six out of the 10 days already being booked.
The next event was Victorian Christmas, with one hundred and twenty children for three weeks visiting four different bases. We have had some new schools visiting us for the first time during these events, who have given us positive feed back; we hope to see them return in the New Year.
During the months of September and October we had three corporate visits who hired the Saltpetre house for their group activities.
One of these companies were Jet Masters Ltd who had an unusual request on their last day to clean out our drains, which we naturally agreed to, much to Brian’s delight!
Conservation – Julie Lane-Mathews
Conservation at the Mills this season has been quite interesting. The appearance of Bee Orchids in two separate areas was a nice discovery. This was due to these areas of grass having been left uncut; normally they would have been kept short. So unknown to us the Orchids were waiting for a chance to grow. Hopefully they will reappear next summer, we’re definitely leaving the grass long.
The lake at New Hill has been left undisturbed for most of the season. Common Reed planted a few years ago has really taken hold and created ideal nesting habitats. This summer two male Reed Warblers could be heard singing at each end of the lake claiming their territory and no doubt nesting there. These birds are summer visitors from Africa.
Tom and I have been on a few fungi hunts this autumn. We discovered Collared Earthstar, Jew’s Ear and King Alfred’s Cakes, also known as cramp balls!
The wildlife at the Mills is a constant distraction, how we ever get any work done is anyone’s guess. The Grass Snake has been a favourite this season and prompted us to build a few compost heaps for them to incubate their eggs during the summer and for winter hibernation. Other wildlife included seeing a Stoat, blink and it was gone, a Tawny Owl in the Climatic Cubicles and the spectacular fly by of the Kingfisher. I checked on one of our Owl nesting boxes recently and there are signs that it was used during the nesting season, so it’s nice to see our efforts rewarded.
An area next to Newton’s Pool has wild Primroses growing there every spring. Normally we would clear unwanted vegetation to help prevent bramble and nettles taking over the area, but we’ve only just got around to it in December. To our surprise when we got there the Primroses were in bud, they normally bloom around February to March.
Much of the visitor’s car park was left covered in Teasels this season. They may look like weeds, but a welcome treat of nectar for Butterflies and Bees in the summer and a source of seed for Goldfinches in the winter.
Many of our Conservation tasks this season involved keeping the nettles and bramble at bay, but I must add that these two types of plant are also valuable habitats. Nettles host a variety of insects, as we often got covered in ladybirds when we disturbed them. Bramble is an ideal habitat for giving protection to nesting birds and again a source of food for bees and the fruit is eaten by Birds, Badgers, Foxes and Deer.
The Mills is a wonderful place to be if you like everything about nature. The diversity of the place allows wildlife to thrive in the many different habitats. I am sure that next season will bring just as many interesting things and my suggestions to the management will be met with great enthusiasm.
John Wilson - Volunteer
The Fallow deer seem to have been particularly aggressive towards each other during this years rut. There are always injuries to be seen as the rut comes to an end, but this year there has been one buck that appears to have lost its left eye and is certainly blind on his left side. Although this injury does not seem to have put him off his usual feed of carrots, which I bring in on Saturday mornings. He continues to be one of the bolder animals, chasing off any others that come too close. Other injuries are nasty cut on foreheads, a possible broken rear leg and at least one death.
We are in the process of re-vamping the Spinks Gallery. The aim is to create a wartime garden, reduce the size of the air-raid shelter, up-grade the sound system and move the Anderson shelter into the gallery from its current location outside Walton House. The changes have highlighted a number of problems, the most pressing being the fact that the large display cabinet to the rear of the shop, which has to be relocated, was holding up the rear wall of the shop, so considerable strengthening had to be put in to stop the wall collapsing before I could move the cabinet. If anybody is interested in helping, one job that needs doing is to roof over the whole of the shop (at the moment it has only a third of a roof) and just doesn’t look right when you enter. This will not only improve the visitor experience but will also strengthen the walls, so that when I drive a panel pin in or just lean on the wall, items don’t fall off the shelves inside. The additional tong and grove planks I am currently adding to the exterior of the shop will need a coat of mat emulsion, if anybody would like to get involved, please let Liz know.
One other project that is being discussed is to put more photos into the Café to help brighten it up and give the visitor something to enjoy while having a drink and a bite to eat. So if you have any photos of the site on wildlife, events, or the history of the site, Lynne Lennard and I would like to hear from you. Any good quality photos submitted should be of a high resolution so that they can be enlarged to a minimum of 15” x 10”. No negatives though, as I don’t have the facilities to turn them into prints with my current computer equipment.
Archive – Les Tucker
Following the move the Archive is now in Walton House, The opportunity was taken to sort and store separately all documentation etc. relevant to the setting up of the Mills as a visitor centre e.g. all site work including decontamination etc There was a considerable amount and it occupies an annexe room. Access and reference is now much improved. The work was done by Len, who also has ongoing responsibility for this part of the Archive.
Implementation of the Archive Development Plan continues. Phase 1 has been completed, involving sorting, cataloguing and setting up databases for the document collection, images, accident data, building drawings, maps and plans. This Phase involved largely up to 1945. Phase 2 has commenced, again Richard and Les, involving similar for post 1945, sorting and allocation and entry into the now established databases.
Derek and Sandra continue with work on the Waltham Abbey Personnel Project, involving analysis of personnel records from 1787 to 1841, with the material now being put into a form suitable for proof reading. Michael continues with the separate part of the Development Plan – digitisation of the Image Collection.
Other activities have been: A photo record was made of the artefacts in the New Hill artefact store.
The Archive as an information source. Random examples were :
Provision of building drawings and photographs to the purchaser of the power house, accumulator tower and associated land
Provision of historical technical treatises for joint publication with the Waltham Abbey Historical Society
Provision of material for display cabinet in main building
Ongoing use of Archive material in contributions to Friends Newsletter
Following an enquiry referred from the Imperial War Museum writing a paper on the WW 1 acetone shortage and actions taken
Producing a list of all images in which staff are identified
Under the overall direction of Trevor Knapp, Norman, Les and Richard are contributing to a guide to the Mills being written. Material from the Archive is being employed where appropriate.
Railway News - Grahame Browne
What a great year we have had on the railway, full of hard work, camaraderie and achievements. Main ones being, go ahead from the Trustees to extend the track to a proposed station on Long Walk near the Mead roundabout and be passenger carrying, track extended to proposed overflow car park ( total track laid is now approaching 800m), delivery of a Ruhrthaler loco from Whipsnade Zoo, building of a works wagon, purchase by railway volunteers of MF digger, etc. etc. 2008 is going to be an exciting year on the railway so why not come up to 83B, on a Saturday, have a cup of tea and chat, see what we are doing and join the Railway Volunteers!
We would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at the Mills
