|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
BGW Ltd Page 1.
One girl went to mow......
Left
is a photo (click to enlarge) of sailing club member Gemma
Suggitt hand mowing our hay meadow with her Austrian scythe. Mowing
doesn't get greener than this so it is very fitting that part
of our S.S,S.I. should get this treatment. Now
that the meadow is properly fenced we should be able to instal
some sheep to graze the short grass as per the terms of
our Stewardship scheme with Natural England. Thanks Gemma
on behalf of Barnt Green Waters Ltd.
Reported : That six members and Fred turned out to help Richard on the scrub clearance session referred to below. Another good session apparently. This was followed on the Sunday by a similar session held at Lower Bittell by the Fishing Club. Our scrub clearance work should bring in a substantial amount of money from our higher level stewardship scheme through the rural payments agency. Well done to all who took part. The next sailing club session will be led by Robin Brown during one of the spring working parties, details will be placed on here soon. (RB.26/1/10)
SCRUB CLEARANCE. The next session (THE FIRST OF 2010) will take place (weather permitting) on SATURDAY 23rd JANUARY, meeting in the car park at 10.30am.prompt. If you have not done your bit so far, please come and help, and do not leave it to the usual few regulars. Saws and loppers will be useful. By helping you will be improving the finances of the Club via the grants we get for this work from Natural England. It also improves the sailing breeze. Contact for the day is Richard Easton who will be in charge. rjeaston@tiscali.co.uk Read the first report by our new Commodore as presented to the AGM of Barnt Green Waters on 6th December 2009, HERE Update. 17/11/2009. Under our "Farm" higher level stewardship scheme in conjunction with Natural England and as part of our S.S.S.I. management agreement we (BGW Ltd.) have an obligation, for which we recieve a payment from the Rural Payments Agency, to control scrub growth and re growth including certain trees around some of our shores on both Upper and Lower Bittell reservoirs. As a general rule the fishing club hold work parties at Lower Bittell and the sailing club at Upper Bittell. The next scheduled session at Upper Bittell is on December 5th 2009 at 10.30 a.m. and it is hoped many sailing club members will turn out to help cut scrub, light and feed fires and help move the felled timber that chain saw operators will bring down. Saws and Loppers will be useful if members could bring them. Here are images from the last session on the north shore. 1 2 3 Contact for the day is Richard Easton who will be in charge. rjeaston@tiscali.co.uk
Swans nesting on Upper Arrow, taken on 9th May 2009, click image to enlarge.
Fallen
tree news........ 21/12/2008.
More cutting of the root ball has been done, however there is
quite a lot more to cut yet. 3/10/08.
The oak tree that fell into Lower
Arrow Pool. on Sept.
6th has been partly cut back and recovered to the bank,
further work is required and will be reported a.s.a.p. (Image
2) June
2008 update
Tessa the guard dog, (guarding
the broken pipe hole?) with Fred and a bird watcher member
at the site where a repair will be carried out which should
end the current water supply issues saga. Update / 31st October. Members will be delighted to hear that the silt in the lower car park has been removed !
BGW Ltd 2007 Autumn Notes will be here, soon... in the meantime, here is an explanation about the lack of water in the club house for washing, loos and showers during the past couple of weeks. (Posted 24th October) There does seem to be some confusion so I will attempt to clarify. The water to basic facilities, other than the filtered drinking water which is supplied by a well, comes from a spring which runs through a wonderful old device called a RAM pump. This invention by Joseph Montgolfier of 1796 is almost perpetual motion in that it costs nothing to run yet pumps water uphill using only the power of the water that is running through it. About 10% of the flow is redirected by a simple pump into a pipe which discharges much higher up into the storage tanks in our stable block. There are two cold water storage tanks holding approximately 200 gallons each. These in turn feed hot water tanks heated by immersion heaters. The reason why we store so much cold water is that the supply from the RAM is very slow therefore for a normal day of activity in the club we need a lot of water. If we had a mains supply the tanks would re fill quickly and smaller tanks would suffice. THE PROBLEM ? One of the tanks rusted through, the primary tank in fact which overflows into the secondary tank. When both tanks are full the overflow is piped into Upper Bittell. The secondary tank was replaced five years ago and a special fibreglass tank had to be made as the specification is totally non standard. Now that the primary tank has failed this too needs replacement and a tank is currently on order. It is scheduled to be completed by the 31st October and will be fitted shortly thereafter (We hope). We are advised that there are no stock tanks that are suitable for this purpose. As there has been quite a delay in getting this problem sorted out, the appointed plumbing company came to the club last week and re routed the supply pipe to run directly into the secondary cold tank. This started to fill after Fred and Ben had successfully re started the RAM pump, a work of art in itself and thank heaven for Ben being available to teach Fred the intricacies of this device. An unknown problem was waiting in the wings though, taps and shower valves had been turned on in the Ladies changing room and when no water emitted, they were left on! You have no doubt guessed what happened next, the room was flooded and the tank discharged. No water again and a mopping up operation ensued. We have to be grateful to Fred for sorting this out for us. Thanks Fred. As I understand, the tank has now had chance to re fill and we should have water for this coming Sunday, 28th. October. Remember, we are only storing half the usual amount so try to be economical please. It is unfortunate when these things come to try us but please try to be understanding, Geoff Ellis, a BGW Director, is overseeing the job and has done all he can to ensure that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Thanks Geoff. All this adds weight to the argument that we do need a mains water supply and we just have to hope that the huge expense of this project can be met in the not too distant future. BGW and the Sailing Club apologise for any inconvenience caused. I hope this has helped to explain, I have written it from memory and hearsay, I do not personally have much knowledge of the installation. Thank you. Robin Brown. TOP
Ben Solloway, retired Keeper and Fred Rollins, current Keeper, at work in "the Hay Meadow" situated below the dam and in need of some maintenance as part of BGW's obligations under the "farm" stewardship scheme. Picture by S. Howe on 11th October 2007. Archive : BGW Ltd 2007 Summer Notes
Posted on 18th Jan.'07 news that a Ben and Christine Solloway retirement celebration event will take place on 4/2/2007 from 11.30 am + opportunity to meet the new keeper and his wife. Presentation at 12 noon. Ending @ 13.30. Free finger buffet. It is hoped that as many members as possible will attend during the two hours. In the clubhouse. 15/12/06. Ben will continue as acting Keeper throughout January while renovations to the Keepers cottage are carried out. Fred and Lisa will take up their new positions on February 1st. Ben and Christine Solloway retire as Keeper and Wife on 25th December 2006 when Ben will become 65. A brief, illustrated report on their time at BGW written by Gordon Britton can be read HERE 7/11/06. NEW KEEPER. Following advertising of the position to which there were seven applicants and subsequent interviews for a short list of three the BGW Committee have decided to offer the appointment to Mr & Mrs Fred and Lisa Rollins subject to the usual checks which are taking place now. Confirmation and more information will follow soon. This is an exciting time for the clubs with many challenges ahead and we hope that we will all strike up a good relationship with our new Steward/Water Bailiff and his Wife. They have two children aged 15 and 18 and I hope to place photographs of the Rollins family here soon. *********** A brief description of the estate of Barnt Green Waters Limited The
Barnt Green Waters Limited is a non-profit making Company founded in
1820 to own and administer the Bittell Reservoirs estate for the benefit
of two sporting clubs, Barnt Green Fishing Club and Barnt Green Sailing
Club. The
Estate is an English Nature "Site of Special Scientific Interest", with
restricted public access. The
reservoirs together form the largest area of water in the Ornithologically,
they represent one of the most important sites in the Floristically,
the reservoirs are by Far the richest open water body in the County,
being surrounded by a diversity of marginal communities, and rare shoreline
communities in the draw down zone, together with a very diverse open
water community. Lower
Bittell
was built in 1813 to guarantee a supply
of water to satisfy the riparian rights of the mill owners
on the River Arrow when the canal dam
was constructed across
the route of the river which descends from the Lickey Hills.
v:shapetype id=_x0000_t202 path="m,l,21600r21600,l21600,xe" o:spt="202" coordsize="21600,21600"> STOP PRESS…… Since the Commodore completed his letter to the membership, we have subsequently learnt that British Waterways wish to reduce the water level in Barnt Green Waters Directors have produced a small brochure explaining the function and activities of BGW Ltd. for the benefit of Full Members. This is in response to a number of members commenting that, although they had upgraded to full membership they did not fully understand the structure of BGW and what it does with regard to the two clubs. The leaflet will be distributed to the 112 shareholding members, 56 from the fishing club and of course, 56 from the sailing club. It is called Information for Shareholders 2006 and in addition to the information contained in it, there is also a map showing the extent of the estate of BGW Ltd, both the freehold and leasehold land. This map was obtained from Ordnance Survey and a copyright licence fee was paid in order to legally reproduce it. It is interesting to note that the map contains some errors which will be taken up with Ordnance Survey for, hopefully, correction to their master map in due course. Two points worthy of mention on the map is, the path shown going from the Sea Scouts boathouse, apparently this is incorrectly shown and also, Lower Bittell Reservoir is shown as a canal feeder, which it is not. It is in fact a controlling water store for the river arrow, constructed for the benefit of mill owners along the river. It is hoped that the brochure will be reprinted periodically with appropriate amendments as required. The photographs on the cover are of the 2005 Lark Open meeting, taken by Stuart Howe and of Stan Charters fishing for trout on upper Arrow pool, also in 2005 and taken by Robin Brown. Most of the text was written by Gordon Britton and production was overseen by Geoff Ellis. If any full members have questions following their reading of the leaflet, the sailing club Directors will do their best to answer them. Any potential full members will be given the chance to read this brochure to better help them to understand what they are signing up to. The sailing Club Directors are Philip Everard, Richard Easton and Robin Brown.
|
|
What's
this? Glamour at BGSC.
%20Small.jpg)
