Landscaping - (21/2)

Almost 12 months ago we started to create what has now become Torrs Hydro New Mills. The transformation has been amazing, from archaeological discovery, to muddy hole, then some amazing engineering with lots of concrete and A frames - followed then by our first electricity in September 2008 and then over recent weeks the landscaping project which is all but completed.

None of us will miss the temporary fences which were a bit of an eyesore, but a necessity whilst the fencing and stonework was completed - we hope everyone will agree the area has now become another focal point in New Mills drawing visitors from far and wide.

Many people passing by and those who have been given tours of the site have asked how you can get involved in the project - later in the week we will remind you how you can purchase the few remaining shares and become part of the UK's first community owned hydro electricity scheme.

System outage - (19/02)

We're in the middle of an unplanned outage at the moment.

Last weekend as part of our daily system checks done by volunteers it was noticed the hydraulic pump was making an 'unusual' noise - further investigation found a problem with the shaft meaning the sluice gate could not automatically be adjusted if the water level changed.

As a precaution we manually closed the sluice gate and have taken the pump back to the manufacturers in Gloucester to be repaired and adjusted to avoid a recurrence - the plan is to have the pump back early next week.

The plan was to shut the screw down for a period this week to allow the safety fencing and grill to be fitted so looking on the positive side if your going to have a problem have one when the system is due to be shut down anyway.

Landscaping update - (13/02)

With the stonework completed, steps now in place to the tail race end of the screw, the Sycamore tree now a shoal of salmon next week sees the safety fencing being installed by New Mills own LSP.

Fencing will run along the top of the intake and then down the slope from the engine house to meet the new stone wall at the bottom and at long last we will be able to get rid of the temporary fencing that's been in situ for the last few months.

... and no it wont look like the picture above !

Archie from afar - (06/02)