Filming again

This has been a day of major progress, thanks to a plea from Restoration Man producer Melissa Mayne for us to assemble some willing hands to get stuck in to outside jobs and to be filmed.   Nephew David and Barbara transformed this embankment from a nettle overgrown nightmare into a seeded grass bank in a morning and a bit.
 

Below is said David creating a flower bed near to the station drive.   This is the only known photograph of David wearing shorts.   The puzzled look on his face is because I had just asked him to say 'lesbians' for the camera.   I was just a bit trigger happy.   Poor David is clearly thinking 'Did Uncle Mark really say lesbians?'
 

The Jubilee Union flags fly proudly over the tower - a Photo-Shop image for the TV.
 

Finally, Here is cameraman Duncan Stingemore risking life, limb and tripod in the station drive.
 

Lesbians have registered.

Tha garage bits are now ALL here

The remaining garage components arrived this morning and have been cleverly stacked on and around the buffers and railway line.

 

Here is Brian Thornton again with Settle Coal's big lorry filling our yard.   It took all his reversing skills to turn around in the supposed turn-round area at the end of the Sidings.   The white vehicles to the left are parked on double yellow lines - obscured by building work (not ours!) alongside.

 

The Appleby workshop hits the road

Today was a day of serious logistics - collecting the components of the demolished Network Rail workshop from Appleby and transporting it all to Settle.   This was a carefully choreographed operation between some seriously big lorries of Network Rail and Settle Coal.
 

Click the collage to view.   Clockwise from top left we see Network Rail's Tony Taylor and his lorry, loaded with the roof A frames.   The large picture shows Settle Coal's Brian Thornton with the rest of the timber components on a seriously big lorry.   The lashings were checked on the A66 before we hit the M6.

The small picture bottom middle shows Tony Taylor holding one of the iron door hinges from the hut.   He is a big bloke but the hinge is taller than he is.

Now the head scratching begins at Settle as we assess what we can do with what we have now got.   Hopefully we can transform an Appleby eyesore into something that is easy on the eye and functional here at Settle.

Special thanks to Network Rail for donating the building to our project, thus saving another large piece of Settle-Carlisle heritage.

Let there be light

The big main room with its incredibly high beamed ceiling has always been a bit lacking in light at night.   These huge wrought iron chandeliers came from The Golden Lion in Settle during its recent refurbishment.   They were destined for the skip so we were lucky enough to get them as a donation to our project.   They had never looked quite right at The Lion - a bit too big in fact.   Here at the water tower they now hang in a room that  suits their size.
 

Just for now they have exposed low energy bulbs which are not elegant but even in daylight is is clear that they will provide more than enough light for the room.   Can't wait for it to get dark.

Repeat of the Water Tower programme on TUESDAY

Look out for our Restoration Man episode: Tue 29 May, 9pm on More4

Getting into the Jubilee spirit

 

Union flags seem to be sprouting all over the place in anticipation of the Queen's Jubilee.   Normally one would not dream of adding frills like flags to this already stunning building but sixty years on the throne by HMQ deserves celebration.   Planning permission is required for flagpoles in Conservation Areas - yes, it really is *.   So, these pictures are, ahem,  Photo-Shop simulations of what flagpoles and flags would look like on the water tower - if they were ever to be put there.   As prosecution would have to be initiated on behalf of said HMQ we may be safe flying the flags on Jubilee Day.

The flagpoles, if they existed, would be removable and would be stored out of sight inside the tank - see the top middle simulated picture (click to enlarge).

It has been suggested that we put an illuminated inflatable snowman or a father Christmas on top of the roof room in season.   Nothing tasteless of course.   Oddly, there's no local planning guidance on those.

* Actually, that scourge of local government red tape Eric Pickles, wants to brighten the place up by easing the planning restrictions on flags as the government's Planning Portal says:
  http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/general/news/stories/2012/jan12/120112/120112_
but flag POLES - now that's another matter.   Eric Pickles for King I say.   Did I really say that?

We have a bridge - and some seedlings

 

The collage (click to enlarge) shows the almost finished bridge from the annex rear door to the top of the embankment.   It was going to have metal railings but we used the tank rod ends as fixing pins for the garden soil boards (bottom right).   They look fine there - functional yet characterful.

The bridge has wooden railings, in keeping with the railings elsewhere in the garden.

Notice that the lawn at the top of the embankment is greening up.   Seedlings are also germinating on the very poor clay soil on the north western aspect of the knoll - see centre lower picture.   These were a gift from Booth supermarket for Settle in Bloom 2012.   They were scattered on a 'hope for the best' basis about a month ago.   Watch this space.