Sizergh Greenwood Fair, grain storage etc.

Our stall at Sizergh

Last Saturday, Sylvia, Richard and Bob ran an Acorn Bank stall at the Sizergh Greenwood Fair.  We assembled a fair display from the unpromising ingredients of Richards wallpapering table, two corkboards the Sizergh staff found, some pictures, bags of flour and some string to stop the boards from blowing over.  We had a good day, selling 25 bags of flour and advertising the virtues of Acorn Bank and, particularly, Apple Day.

Building the new bin

Meanwhile on Tuesday work continued on the new rodent-proof aluminium-lined grain bin.  This one is to have a hinged lid so it can easily be padlocked, as it will have to live in the Information Room.  Otherwise it is being built on much the same lines as the old one.

The need for the new bin is due to the change in our grain supply - instead of buying 150 kg at a time from Little Salkeld watermill, we are now buying 1 tonne at a time direct from the farm.  The old bin was not designed for that quantity, either in volume, or in the strength of its castors.

Fitting extra castors

As a new delivery is imminent, and our grain stocks are very low, we took the opportunity to empty the old bin and add 4 more castors to it to cope with the extra weight.

The driest September since records began has left us desperately short of water, and an average day's milling has gone from about 22 1.5 kg bags to 7 or 8.  It is therefore even more essential to keep the headrace clear.  It was obvious that there were several places where fallen twigs and branches were slowing the flow, so we took the clearing tools and removed as much as we could.

Clearing the leat - just look at
the "dam" behind Richard

While others were continuing with clearing the yard for cobbling, we also looked at the bearing support where the drive from the third waterwheel originally entered the building.  Having removed the masonry that had been inserted to block the space, we treated the metal with Waxoyl and put a wooden back in the hole to keep weather and wildlife out.  Ray is going to make some wooden imitation bearings to support the layshaft with its two pulleys.

Fitting a board to the
bearing support