Happy Anniversary to me…
Today, the blog is five years old.
Glitterfy.com – Glitter Graphics
Here’s to another five!
I might really push the boat out and do another videoblog for my 2,000th post.
The two Queens
Now I wouldn’t normally associate a steam preservation society with Pub memories, but one occurred to me this afternoon.
When I used to live in Maidenhead, a colleague lived on the way to Reading and he had two Pubs just round the corner down a lane- The Queen Victoria, and the Queen Adelaide, known locally as the Two Queens. Then a new Landlord took over the Adelaide and after having been referred to several times as the Publican of “The other Queen” he decided a change of name was in order. He renamed it “The Whippet Inn” and he even arranged for the special brewing of an apple based beverage, known as “Whippet Inn Cider”.
Now the connection is rather tenuous- the mill engine is a tandem type with two halves also named after Queens- Victoria and Alexandra. I have passed the building numerous times not knowing what it was, but a chance posting on Postman Patel earlier in the year made me want to visit it (sadly, he has died recently).
They steam on the first Monday of the month and it is well worth the £3 they charge you (which pays for about a minute of the coal to run the beast). It originally developed about 2 Megawatts of power from four (of five) Lancashire boilers with 160psi of steam, now that the engine is load free it runs at the design speed (just under 60rpm) with just 25psi from one remaining original boiler, still pleasingly on coal. (Many preservation societies have modern gas based steam generators).
The reason it runs under no-load conditions is that the Mill that it used to power has long been demolished, although the engines serviced it from 1919 to 1970 (then a further five years at reduced power as the machinery was progressively electrified). The engines actually date from 1892 in an earlier form powering spinning mules, but the first mill burnt down in 1916.
As the mill has gone, the vast cathedral-like cavity known as the rope-race is also no-more. Originally 44 rope sets on the main flywheel went up to the various floors and there is a vague representation of this with a large wall graphic (and a large model in another room). I have seen a mostly intact one at Wigan Pier but not in steam and the sticker from Ellenroad suggests that the Trencherfield Mill one may no longer run.
You can find the Ellenroad website here.
Who the F*** is Alice?
Simian stories
Having a blog with an extensive back catalogue means that every now and again an interesting email turns up when someone has googled something of interest to them. This week, Nivag Nosnikta has become my friend on friends reunited and someone researching into Planet of the Apes has been asking me for memories from when we had them at the City Hall in 1975.
My original blog was fairly cursory (as I talked a lot more about the Theatre Royal than the City Hall & the Planet of the Apes, which after all was to my mind just a bit of a novelty act in a circus show). Anyway, Neil (the researcher) coaxed a few memories out of me and they are now up on the Wikia Planet of the Apes page. (My thoughts, such as they are, can be found on the December 22 1975 entry).
Neil has also kindly let me use this handbill image below.
As Max Boyce used to say, I WAS THERE!
Trespassers will be electrocuted
(Well, it made me smile!)
