Sandfields Pumping Station – a great historic building with immense history and social significance – not just to Lichfield, but to the Black Country. Lichfield Discovered and local historian Dave Moore are fighting to save this valuable asset for the community.

Sandfields Pumping Station champion and public historian extraordinaire Dave Moore published a really important post yesterday on the Lichfield Waterworks Trust blog, in which he announces the wonderful and welcome news that Sandfields Pumping Station in Lichfield has been handed over to the Trust.

Dave and all the other members can now work on preserving the remarkable engine within, and allowing the public to see the wonderful history the building represents.

My congratulations to Dave and all the enthusiasts who’ve worked so hard to save Sandfields – a task I initially thought to be nigh on impossible. I know the real hard work starts here, but with the support of the community, I’m certain the pumping station has a great and secure future.

You can find out here about the history of Sandfields Pumping Station, a real architectural and technical gem on the Trust’s website, and the group also has a Facebook page here.

Sandfields, saved for the community. I look forward to the future of this fascinating building. Image from Dave Moore’s Flickr stream.

Dave posted yesterday on the Lichfield Waterworks Trust Blog:

Sandfields Pumping Station – Lichfield Waterworks Trust
Posted on October 23, 2015 by morturn

Today we met with the Leader, the Deputy Leader of Lichfield District Council, and Persimmon Homes PLC. The Lichfield Waterworks Trust proposed that we take receipt of the keys to Sandfields Pumping Station in 90 days’ time and then take the next nine months to prepare and operate the site to meet our objectives of:

• To promote and preserve for the benefit of the public the nineteenth century Sandfields Pumping Station complex and associated infrastructure and to facilitate its safety, conservation, security and accessibility.
• To promote and preserve for the benefit of the public the unique 1873 Cornish Beam Engine and other fixtures and fittings situated at Sandfields Pumping Station, Chesterfield Road, Lichfield .
• To promote access to the complex for the purposes of education, community development, and protection of the historic environment.

We are pleased to say that our proposal was warmly welcomed and accepted; subject of course to some formalities.

I personally would like to thank everyone who have been involved in this remarkable project. It has been an absolute delight to have worked and been involved with a team of people who are value driven; a team of people who have gone that extra mile. You are indeed all truly remarkable, for which I sincerely thank you for.

There is still a lot to do, in some ways this is now the beginning, but it is also a massive step towards preserving one of the most important industrial heritage sites in the country.

David Moore – Chairman of the Lichfield Waterworks Trust