ANTON U3A QUESTERS

VISIT TO TWYFORD WATERWORKS

SUNDAY 06 OCTOBER 2024

Ten Questers came out on Sunday 06 October 2024 to visit the Twyford Waterworks. The visit took place on a Sunday as the Trust only have open days on the first Sunday of the month      from May to October inclusive. Only on open days do they run the plant and equipment to recreate the full experience.

Twyford Waterworks is an Edwardian pumping station containing a unique selection of buildings and machinery within a rural downland setting in the heart of Hampshire. The first well was completed in 1898 and operations had commenced by 1900.

Our guide for the morning was Matthew who is the vice-chairman of the Trust. He has been actively involved at the site for over 26 years and has been intimately involved in the restoration of equipment and buildings on the site as well as the acquisition of appropriate additional equipment. What better person to conduct our tour?

We were taken by Matthew on a 1 ½ hour tour and provided with much information about the history, operation and plans for the facility.

The three hand-dug 50 m deep wells on the site still provide up to 15 megalitres of water per day into the public supply system operated by Southern Water. However, none of the original pumps, filters and processes are still in use and the site was listed as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1973.

There was also an outdoor display of classic and old cars and other light vehicles as well as some small steam powered vehicles to add to the occasion.

After a well-received tour in somewhat damp weather, Questers retired to the on-site tearoom for light lunch and refreshments.

There have been a number of positive comments from Questers after the outing so it was found to be interesting and informative.

Cecil Rose

Some Images and text from Twyford Waterworks Trust website.

A group of 14 Questers visited the Coates English Willow Farm and production facility at Stoke St Gregory near Taunton on Monday 23 September 2024. The journey was made in the Unity minibus with the ever supportive and able Robert Kemp as our driver. The weather was not helpful as Robert had to contend with periods of heavy rain for large parts of the 1 ¾ hour journey each way. However, as always, he delivered us safely there and back again afterwards.

It was an early start and the minibus got underway from the meeting point at Wickes on schedule just before 08:30. Fortunately when we arrived at Coates there was little or no rain. A tea/coffee break was enjoyed at the Lemon Tree café before our guided tour started at 11:00.

Roxanne was our guide for the tour which started in the shop where she gave a brief history of the Coate family which has been producing willow since 1812. Through marriage they combined with the Boobyer family to establish the present company which grows and processes willow and makes furniture and many other items of woven basketwork for the past 200 years. Roxanne also explained the planting process and how the willow is grown and harvested. She then went on to explain how the three primary colours of willow are produced.

We then commenced the tour of the processing and production facilities to see how the various steps are undertaken. The tour included see how artist’s charcoal is produced and learnt that Coates produces 80% of the world’s artist’s charcoal. The tour ended by viewing the weaving process where 5 weaving craftspeople were producing willow woven products. A large part of this wok nowadays is the production of willow coffins and several designs were being produced in the weaving rooms.

After the tour was completed we returned to the Lemon Tree café for lunch. Members had been asked to place their order for lunch in advance so the service was quite quick and food good.

After lunch most members watched a video which shows the entire willow process from planting to final weaving which served to reinforce the information from the tour. This was followed by a visit to the willow museum which was very interesting and showed the huge diversity of uses of woven willow over the past 200 years. Many members ended the visit by purchasing items of basketwork from the shop.

Our return trip was again quite wet but Robert handled the drive with skill and professionalism. We were safely returned to Wickes car park again at around 16:45 as scheduled.

Thanks to Chris Coffin for organising the outing which was enjoyed by all of us. Unfortunately, he was not able to join in on the trip itself.

Cecil Rose