The Bath and Bristol Branch runs a successful and well-attended Winter programme of talks and social events.  Details will appear in the Autumn.

CLAVERTON PUMPING STATION - Now Fully Operational Again!

Work to replace the curved water wheel control sluices has now been finished but the report by Claverton Group Leader Peter Dunn, first published in the Summer of 2006 provides an interesting record of the work carried out. 

This could be called a re-restoration but as the sluice is constructed largely of timber which is immersed in water, it will not last forever.  It is one of the parts along with things like the wooden pit wheel teeth and wheel paddle boards that will have been replaced at intervals through the history of the Pump House.  We are following in the footsteps of some very skilled people, some working for the Kennet and Avon Canal Company, later the Great Western Railway, through to students from Bath University then finally the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust's restoration team.  It is our privilege to be the next people who contribute to passing on this unique piece of engineering heritage to the next generation.  That nicely brings me to mention the 1970s restoration manager Derrick Dudden who has been very interested in our latest repairs.  Derrick has paid us quite a few visits and shared his experiences with the sluice with us.  It was during one of these visits that mention was made of an old fashioned style door key he had reproduced for the original front door lock of Claverton which had gone missing.  Derrick immediately offered to make another key for the lock.  Two weeks later he reappeared with a splendid reproduction of the key (see attached picture) which works perfectly.

The season is wearing on and we still have not finished the first sluice rebuild. I recently made the decision that it will be just as well to run right through to also rebuild the second sluice.  This means that we will not run at all this year but will be fully operational for 2007.  One reason for this decision is that the river is very low and this makes work easier. There have been suggestions that the dry spell will break this coming winter and it will be very wet which would delay the start of the next phase of sluice repairs next spring.

As to be expected, our visitor numbers are down this season but this has been made up somewhat by some late bookings of out-of-hours special groups.  A new development here has been to extend the Pump House tour to include a guided tour of Dundas Wharf and Aqueduct.  These extras need some more refinement to give some added value but are looking very promising.  Of course, more tour guides would be very welcome to develop this and it would be very nice if we could build a dedicated team to take these tours.  So, if anyone is interested in promoting the Canal, The Pump House and the Trust, please get in contact with me through Devizes.

Peter Dunn.