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Current Summer 2010 Bulletin of the Society 

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Sample Page :-

                                                                                  No 55           June 2010.

           BULLETIN

Editorial contact:

A.M.Jervis, 7 Dymond Grove, Pitcorthie, Dunfermline, Fife , KY11 8DE ;

tony,jervis@talktalk.net .

  ROGUE GALLERY

   Your Editor apologises for demonstrating only too clearly his abysmal standard of typing when part of a well-mistyped sentence copied itself into the item on the Denny Tank (Bulletin 54/7).  Although some politicians are known for the abstruseness of their comments, culture minister Michael Russell did not, as the typed item might have implied, mince his words: the funding would “allow continued safe access to the tank and the [ Irvine ] museum’s collection.”

OLD WATERWHEEL FROM BARJANG MINE (Bulletin 54/2)

   John Crompton was able to answer one of the questions posed at the end of the second item in the last newsletter.

   “There's no mystery about the Barjarg waterwheel — it's on display in the Museum of Scotland , on the 3rd floor not far from the Caprington engine.  I had the pleasure (?) of designing a wooden support for it, based on photographs of an underground wheel in a Welsh lead mine near Machynlleth.

   “When SIHS was formed by a merger of the Scottish IA Society and the Scottish Society for the Preservation of Historic Machinery (SSPHM), there was no way the new society could take responsibility for the latter's huge collections.  They were divided between Glasgow Museums , Summerlee Industrial Heritage Park and the National Museums of Scotland .  The wheel was chosen to represent water power in the story of Scotland 's developing industry, mainly because it was small enough to be fitted in.  Such are the limitations of museum displays!”

MILTON MILL, MONIFIETH

   As long ago as 2005 a planning application was put to Angus Council for a redevelopment of the Monifieth waterfront that would have included the conversion of the B-listed Monifieth Mill into flats, the demolition of a listed tram depot and the construction of new flats and a shop.  The mill dates back to 1788 and the Monifieth Local History Society believe it is the oldest surviving industrial building in the burgh.  Following a presentation to the council in which some critical comments were made about the location of the proposed new buildings in relation to the mill and the Dichty Water on which it stands, the council refused listed building consent to for demolition.  In 2006 the mill suffered a fire.  The developers later submitted a new application incorporating 73 flats and a retail unit for the site, claiming that the fire has left the mill in a weakened structural condition and that it could no longer be saved for conversion into flats and should instead be demolished.  Early this year Angus Council’s planning committee deferred a decision until the developer proved that the building could not be saved.  Meanwhile the local history society have been mounting a strong campaign, including a petition signed by many of the local population, against what a local councillor has called “a major loss to the community.”