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RGT NEWS

ISSUE 7

MARCH 2012

PIPPS FORD LOCK

‘BEFORE RESTORATION’

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Firstly I should apologise for this Newsletter being a little later

than anticipated and I must also express my gratitude to Charles

Stride for undertaking the Editorship of this edition, strictly on a

one-off basis!

The Trust is continuing to raise public awareness in its plans and

intentions, and this is being reflected in our involvement in a number

of interesting, and possibly, far-reaching projects in addition to the

continuation of our existing Work Parties. Two examples of these may

be in assisting Bramford Parish Council with the plans for the re-

development of the old Fison’s site and the possibility of us being

able to host an IWA Trailboat Rally in the not too distant future. We

are also taking our forward planning a step further under the title of

‘Realising the Dream’.

The Work Parties are now splitting their time between Baylham and

Pipps Ford Locks, with the added work to be carried out renewing the

sluice gates at the former (See separate report).

In September last year, we were able to host a most successful Suffolk

Local History Council Day and also the next day to be able to

participate in the National Open Heritage Weekend, both events

centred around Baylham Lock .

The attempt to increase the number of bookings for our Powerpoint

Presentations by a suitable letter in the various local Newsletters, after

a slow start, is proving very successful with enquiries up to October

2013. This has proved to be on excellent method of extending our

public awareness and at the same time providing worthwhile funding –

if you know of any organisation who may be interested, please let me

know.

EDITORIAL

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*******************************************************

We have recently recruited Les Howard to our

Executive Committee – it was Les’s Company,

Marriott and Howard, who were responsible for

designing and publishing our Vision Statement

Document and the associated Membership

Leaflet. Les is already proving a valuable

member of our Work Party and we wish him a

long and happy association with us.

We hope to see as many members as possible at our AGM which is

being held at Needham Market on Friday, 25th May 2012 when we

shall be welcoming local MP, David Ruffley. We will also be

attending , with our stand, at the Stowmarket Jubilee Event on June

4th – see you there!

Lewis Tyler

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FROM THE TREASURERS

COMPUTER

Doesn’t time fly! It’s nearly 9 months since

my last contribution to this newsletter and

the Trust is nearly 5 years old.

Our income is still exceeding our expenditure – we’ve had over £2000 in

donations and nearly £600 in membership income. Those nice people in the

Inland Revenue have given us £640 in Gift Aid, so keep paying your in-

come tax!

Sales of scrap metal continue to make a substantial contribution to our

funds - £725 in the last 9 months.

Unfortunately, with the Bank of England base rate at a measly 0.5% we

only got £81 in bank interest.

The largest single item of expenditure was for our insurance cover. With so

many people willing to sue when they trip over their own shoe laces we

need to be well covered for anything that could happen to members of the

public around our work sites. Public Liability insurance has cost us £409

this year.

We’ve spent over £1600 on restoration work, both at Baylham and latterly

at Pipps Ford. Sand, ballast, lime and cement between them cost us just

under £400. The ever upward rise in petrol and diesel prices meant that

we’ve spent £350 just to keep our various items of machinery running.

The next large restoration project we have will be restoring the sluice gates

behind the mill at Baylham. These gates were originally used to control the

flow of water to the mill, the lock and down the river. Although we are

supplying the manpower, the Onian’s Trust are providing the money so

that won’t be appearing as an expenditure item next time around.

Under the heading of restoration we’ve been out and bought a garage! Ac-

tually it’s a workshop for our use at Pipps Ford and the cost was covered

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by a legacy from an IWA member. We’ve spent £240 of our own

money to fit it out with all the necessities of life like kettles, a sink

and some comfy chairs!

That’s it this time around. I hope to meet many of you at our AGM on

the 25th May. Spencer

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Friday May 25th

7.30 pm Needham Market Community Centre

River Gipping Trust AGM

Monday June 4th

Stowmarket Jubillee

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RESTORATION REPORT

This winter has been much kinder to us than last year, with only

one workparty cancelled due to freezing temperatures, and two

others cut short by rain settling in on the day.

Our workload has been split between two projects, the repair and

maintenance of the over bridge at Pipps Ford Lock, and the continuing

work to the brickwork platform at Baylham.

Pipps Ford has progressed apace, and with a good turnout every week ,

including our youngest

member by far, Sam, who

is on temporary second-

ment from the North

West, and has been a

great help with the brick-

work.. We have achieved

a huge amount of pro-

gress here, with all the

overgrowth of scrub, in-

cluding two sizeable ash

trunks, removed, and the

accumulated earth

scraped from the bridge

deck. The deck itself is

in better condition than

we expected, but all four

retaining walls needed

cleaning down and par-

tially demolishing. At the time of writing, one has been completely

restored, a second is within a few courses of completion, and a third is

Second retaining wall under construction

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cleaned down and prepared for its rebuild. The fourth is presenting a

bit of a problem , in that historically the wall was used to prop up

the River Gipping Footpath. To properly repair the wall and create

space for a future balance beam will need more substantial work and

a further approval from the Environment Agency.

While all this has been going on, we have continued our Saturday

programme of work at Baylham, with the first area of bank re-

enforcement below the bridge now in place. Progress is naturally

slower here as we only work one day a month, but again the relative-

ly good weather and low water levels have helped us with this work.

Our next project will be the repair of the sluice at Baylham. This

structure controlled the water level above the mill, but over the years

it has lost its gates and the frame has degenerated badly. The Land-

owner, the Onians Trust, has asked us to replace the structure com-

pletely. Luckily, much of the mechanism to raise the gates was ei-

ther left on the bank or in the river, and Colin, with much patient

work has been able to restore all but the cast iron racks.

With the help of one of our newer members, we have located a

source of local oak at Glemham and this is being milled to size as I

Choosing Timber for the Sluice framework

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write this. The timbers will be prepared off-site and then assembled

at Baylham in the Autumn.

We have a number of other ideas we are working on for the future,

and as always any volunteers for either our Wednesday or Saturday

work parties will be warmly welcomed

Martin Bird

Restoration Manager

PIPPS FORD LOCK—UNDER RESTORATION

WORKING PARTY DATES

Working Parties are held by the River Gipping Trust from 0900 to 1700 every

Wednesday and on the first Saturday of each month, unless that Saturday is a Bank

Holiday in which case it will then be held on the second Saturday of that month.

For further information and to confirm dates contact Martin Bird

Tel: 01394 380765 Email: restoration@rivergippingtrust.org.uk

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River Gipping Trust shines at Suffolk

Local History Societies Day

Saturday 17th March 2012

Once again the Trust put on a display at the Suffolk Local History

Council’s bi-annual event when Suffolk History Societies get to-

gether to show what they are doing in the way of activities.

In a well packed Blackbourne Hall at Elmswell, there were displays by

many local societies, including the Workers Educational Association,

Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History Field Group, Suffolk Lo-

cal History Council who were hosting the Day, the Suffolk Branch of

the Historical Association

and the Wickham Market

Area Archive Centre and

Photographic Club to name

but a few. All available

space along the Hall walls

was occupied with individu-

al displays and attracted a

great deal of interest from

the over 90 members of var-

ious societies who had at-

tended, in spite of the less

than spring like weather.

As well as the extensive RGT display, Spencer Greystrong had the fi-

nal afternoon spot in a well filled programme of lectures. He gave

(with support from Colin Turner) a Powerpoint presentation on the his-

tory of the River Gipping and its restoration so far. This, like all the

subjects during the day, was very well received. Among the other

speakers there were talks on such diverse subjects as Ancillary Build-

ings at Great Ashfield Airfield by a member of the Suffolk Industrial

Archaeology Society, a Record of 80 years of Southwold Museum, the

Early Years of the Gas industry in Suffolk and the Hidden Heritage

which was about fund raising for your society by running metal detec-

tion days. Altogether a fascinating range of talks, each one more inter-

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esting than the titles perhaps sug-

gested. The afternoon was rounded

off with tea and home made cakes.

Photographs show the audience in

the well filled Hall at Elmswell and

Spencer explaining a point to a

member of that audience.

We continue to be asked to give

talks to a wide range of organisa-

tions, as per the list on page 11.

Members will always be welcome on these occasions to support the

speaker of the day.

Mitzi Tyler

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TALKS DIARY 2012/13

Date/Time Organisation Place Wednesday

25/4

1930

Great Blakenham Parish

Council Parish Room

Gt. Blakenham

Sunday

29/4

East Anglian Waterways

Association AGM Best Western Hotel

Claydon Wednesday

2/5/12

7.30pm

Stowmarket Young

Farmers Limes Hotel

Needham Market

Friday

25/5/12

7.30pm

River Gipping Trust

AGM

Needham

Tuesday

10/07/12

Suffolk Family History

Stowmarket

Old Library

Red Gables

Stowmarket Wednesday

19/9/12

Boxted History Group Boxted

Tuesday

16/10/12

Catholic Womens League

of Ipswich

St Pancras Church

Hall

Ipswich Wednesday

17/10/12

Drinkstone Local History

Club

All Saints Church

Drinkstone Tuesday

8/1/13

Capel St Mary Countryside

Club Methodist Chapel

Capel St Mary Friday

15/2/13

Martlesham WI Richards Room

Martlesham

Community Hall Thursday

21/02/13

Woolpit History Group Woolpit

Monday

11/3/13

Woodbridge Methodist

Ladies Friendship

St Johns Road

Woodbridge Wednesday

09/10/13

Stour Valley U3A Constable Memorial

Hall

East Bergholt

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Editor: Lewis J. Tyler. Church Cottage, Capel St. Mary, Ipswich, IP9 2EL

(01473) 310381

secretary@rivergippingtrust.org.ukwww.rivergippingtrust.org.uk

Views that may be expressed in this Newsletter are not

necessarily the views of the River Gipping Trust or its Trustees