Sandfields Pumping Station champion and public historian extraordinaire Dave Moore has been in touch to let me know that next Monday evening, 11th March 2019 there will be the monthly Public Meeting of the Lichfield Waterworks Trust charity, formerly the Friends of Sandfields Pumping Station group.

The meeting is at the Bowling Green pub, Lichfield from 7:30pm and is of course open to anyone interested.

Dave wrote:

The next public meeting of Lichfield Waterworks Trust will take place on:  Monday 11 March 2019 at 7.30pm, in the rear meeting room of:
 
The Bowling Green
Friary Road
Lichfield
Staffordshire
WS13 6QJ
 
Tel: 01543 257344
 
The Bowling Green serves some great food and real ales.

February meeting notes are available here

Latest News

Building Lease Update:

Following the trusts instructions to Persimmon that we would vacate the building, Persimmon Homes Ltd contacted the trust to clarify what they said had been a misunderstanding in the wording of the lease and instruction passed to the solicitors.
 
With the objectives of the trust and a commitment to work with the owners in a productive way, the trust agreed to postpone vacating pending further talks. Ian Prichard, Deputy Leader of Lichfield
District Council kindly offered to facilitate an initial meeting with Persimmon.
 
This meeting has now been completed and some revised offers have been placed upon the table. The trust will be meeting with the owner’s early March 2019.

Important Note:

After the visit by Historic England on 16 Jan, the site has unfortunately been placed on the Heritage At Risk Register.

This is indeed sad news to see that this magnificent piece of industrial heritage is now officially at risk of permanent loss.
 
The trust is committed to continue working with the owner, Persimmon Homes Ltd to find a sustainable solution that will bring this building and its historic contents aback into a community use.

Tonights Talk

Tonight talk is from our very own railway historian Ian Pell
 
The Lichfield Diamonds
 
This illustrated talk takes along the South Staffs Railway from Sandhills to Lichfield City and discusses the evolution of the Lichfield City Station; its use; its signal boxes, and, its almost unique platform arrangement.   We also look at St. John’s Street Bridge and the origins of the crests which adorn it.

So what are the Lichfield diamonds, and are there any still to be found?

Health and Safety

We are really pleased to report that we have been working for another month where there have been no incidents relating to health and safety. A very big thank you again to everyone for working safely and looking after your fellow volunteers.
 
Engineering Team Report

The engineering team are continuing to make steady but continual progress. They have made an impressive job of cleaning the chequer plate floors and the cylinder landing. The work is time consuming but showing amazing results.
 
Read more on the link below:
 
Progress notes from the engineering team are available here.

Donations
 
With over 2,500 volunteer working hours, (equates to more than two full time equivalents) and over £14,000 spent in cleaning equipment, materials and scaffold over the last two years. This month has seen quite a drain on our bank balance with invoices for the viability study and scaffolding landing on the desk. Looking at the engine now, as opposed to how it looked in 2016, the volunteers have made some remarkable progress.

We will also always invest in our people and we are planning further training days soon. All these costs soon mount up, so if you can donate, then please visit our donation page here.
 
Any amount is helpful, is well appreciated and will be carefully spent preserving our industrial past for our future generations, developing skills for our people and making our community a better place
 
Please make cheques payable to; Lichfield Waterworks Trust, and send to our address:
 
22 Walsall Road
Lichfield
WS13 8AB
 
Membership
 
Do we have your correct details? We do our best to get things right, but occasionally something slips of the tray. Please let us know if we have your correct contact details, or you would like any additions or amendments.
 
We would like this opportunity to welcome a few new members.

Thank you for joining the Lichfield Waterworks Trust. We hope you will enjoy your membership and become part of a very exciting heritage project that will benefit the people, the place and the community.
It would really help us if we develop and grow our membership. If you are not already a member and would you like to be a part of one of the region’s most exciting heritage projects then please, join us now by filling in Membership Application Form by going to our membership page here. It is free to join and be a part of this incredibly exciting project.
 
Finally
 
Thank you everyone for your continued support and helping to make a difference in our community. We hold work days every Friday between 10:00 and 12:00am, please feel free to pop in a see us, we make everyone welcome and have free tea and coffee!

Do pop over to Dave Moore’s blog and check out the history of Sandfields Pumping Station, an almost forgotten gem – the group also has a Facebook page.

Dave is, of course, one of the leading lights of Lichfield Discovered, along with Kate ‘Cardigan’ Gomez from Lichfield Lore.

It’s great to see people like Dave encourage a better attitude to our historic buildings -please do attend if you’re able, it’s sure to be enlightening and educational.