THE FACES OF SHERBORNE
In our monthly series of “The Faces of Sherborne” we introduce you to the people behind the faces. This month (May 2012)
MEET GEOFF WARD
CHAIRMAN, SHERBORNE STEAM & WATERWHEEL CENTRE
Geoff Ward has a very particular association with the availability of clean drinking water; he can remember having to collect drinking water in a bucket from a hand-pump in his home area of Derbyshire and also the waterwheels powering the textile mills in his local Derwent and Ecclesbourne valleys . Later, as an engineer, he also worked overseas in developing countries where the need for drinking water was often the key priority. Who better then to oversee the latest stage in the preservation and reconstruction of the Sherborne Steam & Waterwheel Centre.
Read the full interview below:
Q: How did you become involved in the Centre?
GW: My wife and I came down to Sherborne to retire in 1999 and shortly afterwards I joined the group of volunteers here. There has been a dedicated group in existence since 1981, a little over twenty years after the site was decommissioned in 1959. They usually number about two dozen volunteers and carry out most of the infrastructure development and maintenance themselves. My first job was to help build one of the wooden sheds we have, the one that houses the stationary internal combustion engine. Things were reasonably under way by then, they already had the original waterwheel running.
However, soon afterwards, with the wheel seriously out-of-balance and badly corroded, it had to be refurbished. That was a huge job which took over a year. It was fabricated locally then dismantled, shipped to Holland for shot-blasting and painting and then brought back in bubble-wrap and reassembled in the wheel pit. The cost was nearly sixty thousand pounds by the time it was completed four years ago in 2008.
Q: What was your next project?
GW: We get quite a few groups visiting the Centre and also we wanted to have somewhere for people to relax and have a drink or a picnic, so it was decided to create a picnic area. Our idea was to create a stone base the same size as the waterwheel in order to give an exact idea of its dimensions. Obviously the wheel is mostly hidden from view and so the picnic area is a stone replica providing an exact impression of its size and its construction, outlining the position of the struts. It is 26 feet across and we have three large picnic tables placed on it. Once more, we were extremely fortunate in securing grants and funding from various groups including the Simon Digby Trust, the Town Council, Awards for All and Wessex WaterMark.
Q: Do you consider the work of the Centre as primarily that of preservation or of education?
GW: It is most definitely a combination of both. We encourage school groups to come along as it is a good opportunity for them to learn some social history and to think about the importance of our most critical natural resource, water. It is also part of this area’s industrial heritage: we have general visitors to Sherborne interested in seeing the Centre but also specialist visitors, such as mechanical engineers and others from Alaska to the Antipodes.
Q: The Centre’s latest addition has just been opened – can you tell me about that?
GW: The Hindley Building houses the Hindley Steam Engine and we are thrilled that we have been able to complete this. The original steam engine was installed in 1876 and was needed to boost the supply of water due to public demand. The waterwheel had been operating the pumps from 1859 but only 17 years later additional water had to be pumped up by means of the steam engine. Hindley was a local company involved in agricultural engineering and although the original engine was scrapped, this one came from the Gillingham brickworks. It was bought privately in 1972, donated to the Centre, restored and finally brought here. The building it is housed in was actually built around the steam engine so I hope we never have to take it out!
Q: You seem to have achieved so much – is there anything left to do?
GW: There is always something. The original pumps were scrapped and we would like to locate some replacement pumps to put into the waterwheel pump well. There is nothing there at the moment and if we could find something suitable it would really help to tell the story of how the waterwheel drove the original pumps. We would also like to improve the Visitor Centre which has John Lawson’s 1868 original plan of the scheme.
Q: You are only open to the public on a limited basis. Why is this?
GW: We only hold a lease here as the site is still operational and run by Wessex Water to supply Sherborne’s water. When the waterwheel and steam engine became defunct in 1959 they were replaced by electrical bore-hole pumps which still operate today. We have ten open days a year or we can open by special arrangement for groups and we feel that provides enough opportunities for those who are interested in this bit of our history.
Q: Do you have time to follow any other activities?
GW: Yes, I do participate in a few U3A subjects so I take part in the photography group, I am interested in genealogy and I usually follow any natural history courses. Apart from that, I am involved with Sherborne Douzelage and am working on the youth exchange project with Chojna in Poland at the moment, and several Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ committees. There is always plenty to do around Sherborne, it’s a very attractive area.