Thank you ! - (29/11)

What a great day !

It started off at 9:00am this morning down in the Torrs putting up the Christmas tree in a temperature of -4oC (and it didn't get much warmer down there during the day.

The AGM was a fantastic event, with some great involvement form our shareholders with some excellent questions which we hope we answered as best we could - we think there were approx 110 who attended and about a third of those came down to the site afterwards for one of the guided tours.

Lets also take this 'blog' as an opportunity to welcome our new Directors to the board, the full list of Directors is now as follows and we will do some more in depth 'interviews' of them over the next week or so :

Sean Whewell - current

Richard Body - current

Esther Jones - current

Maggies Cole - current

Will Griffin - new

Lorrie Marchington - new

Simon Clayton - new

Mary Cohen - new

Till Geiger will be stepping down as a Director but will continue to be involved with the scheme as well as help in wrapping up any loose ends from the first year of operation of the scheme.

We will post the motions discussed and voted upon as well as additional requested detail here on the blog and on teh web site later in the week.

Leaping fish... - (29/11)

Some more good news !

We have secured funding with the Environment Agency to turn the Sycamore tree overlooking the Archimedes screw into two leaping fish (a brown trout often seen in the river and a salmon which will hopefully soon be seen in the river)

Sometime in January/early February, work will start on the tree, which has recently been heavily lopped in preparation - the work itself will be great to watch with our artist using chain saws and a cherry picker to change the tree into a piece of art.

Given the location of the tree (overlooking the weir) it will be a great spectacle to watch being transformed and for visitors to admire in years to come.

AGM reminder - (26/11)

With the Torrs Hydro Christmas Tree due to be switched on this Saturday (on the same day as our first AGM) it looks already like many of our existing shareholders have also been getting into the Christmas mood in the response to the Torrs Hydro 'Invitation to Invest' - remember existing shareholders can increase their shareholding and if you hold a minimum of £500 you are able to claim a 20% tax credit at the end of this tax year which is a great return in year one of any investment.

You may want to also consider using Torrs Hydro shares as an easy to wrap 'green' present for a loved one !

As a reminder Saturdays AGM starts at 11:00am on Saturday in the Revival Church in New Mills and you will also have an opportunity to visit the site afterwards.

Landscaping project - (25/11)

Next week the Torrs Hydro site will be fenced off whilst the outstanding landscaping project starts - the work is expected to take 6-8 weeks (two week break over the Christmas period).

The end result will be better and safer viewing for the public and improvements to the area around the site.

Project updates will be posted on here.

On this day... (25/11)

Highlights in History Which Occur November 25:



1120 English royal yacht "White Ship" leaves in storm

1165 RC German emperor Frederik I Barbarossa visits Utrecht
1185 Umberto Crivelli replaces Lucius III as Pope Urban III

1277 Giovanni Gaetano Orsini elected as Pope Nicolas III
1357 Charles IV issues letter of protection of Jews of Strasbourg Alsace
1500 Governor De Bobadilla of Santo Domingo captures Columbus
1659 Michiel de Ruyter conquerors Danish city Nyborg
1688 Princess Anne flies from London to Nottingham
1715 1st English patent granted to an American, for processing corn
1744 Austrian forces pillage & kill Jews of Prague
1758 Britain capture Ft Duquesne (Pittsburgh) from French
1766 Pope Clement XIII warns On dangers of anti-Christian writings
1783 Britain evacuates NY, their last military position in US1805 Opera "Tha‹s" 1st American performance
1817 1st sword swallower in US performs (NYC)1834 Delmonico's, one of NY's finest restaurants, provides a meal of soup, steak, coffee & half a pie for 12›
1841 35 Amistad survivors return to Africa1847 Opera "Marta" is produced (Vienna)1863 Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee
1864 Confederate plot to burn NYC, fails and Confederate retreat at Sandersville, Georgia
1867 Alfred Nobel invents dynamite and US, Congress commission looks into "impeachment" of Pres Johnson1872 J C Watson discovers asteroid #128 Nemesis
1884 John B Meyenberg of St Louis patents evaporated milk1892 A Charlois discovers asteroid #346 Hermentaria
1894 Greenback (Independent) Party organizes in Indianapolis
1897 Spain grants Puerto Rico autonomy
1899 Battle at Graspan, Cape colony: general Methuen beats Farmers
1902 Franz Leh rs opera "Wiener Fraueen," premieres in Vienna1908 Dorando Pietri (It) beats Johnny Hayes (US) in MSG marathon by 60 yds
1911 3rd CFL Grey Cup: U of Toronto defeats Toronto Argonauts, 14-7
1912 American College of Surgeons incorporates in Springield, Ill and Socialist International rejects that world war is coming
1913 Woodrow Wilson's daughter Jessie marries in White House
1920 WTAW of College Station, Tx, broadcast 1st football play-by-play
1922 G Van Biesbroeck discovers asteroid #3378 and Japanese crown prince Hirohito appointed prince-regent
1925 KPD proposes German Parliament expropriate possession of monarchy
1929 Belgium govt Jaspar falls1930 690 earthquake shocks recorded in 1 day (Ito Japan)
1933 1st Soviet liquid rocket attains altitude of 261' (80m) and L Boyer discovers asteroid #1295 Deflotte & #1296 Andree
1935 Resident Institution for Social History (IISG) forms in Amsterdam
1936 Germany & Japan sign anti-Komintern pact
1937 World's fair of Paris closes (31.2 million visitors)
1940 Patria steamer sinks killing 200, outside of Haifa and U of Mich retires Tom Harmon's #98
1941 German Jews in Netherlands declared stateless and Lou Boudreau becomes Cleveland Indians player/manager
1942 National Organization for Aid to Underground, LO, forms
1943 U-600 sinks in Atlantic Ocean
1944 32nd CFL Grey Cup: Montreal HMCS defeat Hamilton Flying Wildcats, 7-6
1947 Future Queen Elizabeth marries Prince Philip in Westminster Abbey and New Zealand acedes to Statute of Westminster, becomes a dominion
1948 Ft Funston's 16-inch coastal guns removed and KING TV channel 5 in Seattle, WA (NBC) begins broadcasting and KING-TV, Seattle, forms air with 1st Pacific NW telecast and S Arend discovers asteroid #1565 Lemaitre
1950 38th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Winn Blue Bombers, 13-0 and UN gives Eritrea to Ethiopia
1951 17 die in a train crash in Woodstock Ala and Cleve Browns penalized a record 209 yards against Chicago Bears and Commemoration of resistance fighter Hannie Buy forbidden
1952 Agatha Christie's "Mousetrap," premieres in London and George Meany appointed as chairman of AFL and Only win ever for NFL's Dallas Texans (11-1) beats Bears 27-23
1953 Earthquake/tsnunami strikes Honshu, Japan and Hungary beats England in soccer match, 6-3
1955 Race segregation forbidden on trains & buses between US states and Walter Piston's 6th Symphony, premieres
1957 Pres Eisenhower suffers a mild stroke, impairing his speech
1958 Senegal becomes an autonomous state in French Community
1960 1st atomic reactor for research & development, Richland Wa and Last broadcast of Amos 'n' Andy on radio CBS ends last 4 radio soap operas (Ma Perkins, Right to Happiness, and Young Dr Malone & 2nd Mrs Burton) & cancels 4 other series
1961 NBA's Bob Cousy becomes 2nd player to score 15,000 points
1962 WBJA (now WMGC) TV channel 34 in Binghamton, NY (ABC) 1st broadcast
1963 JFK laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery
1965 Congo milt coup under Gen Mobutu, Pres Kasavubu flees
1966 Pirate Radio Station 390 (Radio Invicta) closes down (reopen 12/31)
1967 Puerto Rico placed on Atlantic Standard Time
1969 John Lennon returns OBE to protest UK's support for Vietnam War
1971 "Dan Cooper" jumps with $200,000 out of plane over Washington
1973 3 Palestinians hijack KLM B747 above Iraq, to Dubai and 61st CFL Grey Cup: Ottawa Rough Riders defeats Edmonton Eskimos, 22-18 and Bloodless military coup ousts Greek Pres George Papadopoulos
1975 Netherlands grants Suriname independence (Natl Day) and Portuguese leftist officers occupy 4 airbases
1976 OJ Simpson gains 273 yards for Buffalo vs Detroit and Viking 1 radio signal from Mars help prove genl theory of relativity
1977 David Steed balanced stationary on a bike for 9 hrs 15 mins and Thomas Hearns KOs Jerome Hill in 2 rounds in his 1st pro fight
1979 67th CFL Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos defeats Montreal Alouettes, 17-9 and American Airlines DC-10 crashes on takeoff from Chicago, kills 275 and Pittsburgh gains 606 net yards against Cleveland, winning 33-30 and Z Vavrova discovers asteroid #36281980 Coup in Burkina abolishes constitution and France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island and Sugar Ray Leonard defeats Duran regains WBC welterweight championship and Upper-Volta milt coup under Col Saye Zerbo, president Lamizana flees
1981 Failed coup by South African mercenaries in Seychelles1983 Soyuz T-9 returns to Earth, 149 days after take-off and Syria & Saudi Arabia announce cease-fire in PLO civil war in Tripoli and World's greatest robbery-œ25,000,000 of gold, Heathrow, England
1984 Julio M Sanguinetti wins Uruguay presidential election and William Schroeder, becomes 2nd to receive Jarvik-7 artificial heart

1986 Iran-Contra affair erupts, Pres Reagan reveals secret arm deal

1988 Chuck Berry pays $250 fine to resolve NYC assault charges and Convention on exploitation of Antarctic mineral resources signed and US & Soviet chess grand masters Donaldson & Akhmilovskaya wed and Widespread earthquake hits NE US, Canada; no damage reported

1990 78th CFL Grey Cup: Winn Blue Bombers defeat Edmonton Eskimos, 50-11 and Lech Walesa wins in Poland's 1st popular election and NFL's NY Giants & SF 49ers after winning their 1st 10 games both lose, Phil Eagles beat Giants 31-13 & L.A. Rams beat 49ers 28-17

1993 Dutch Antilles govt of Liberia-Peters falls and Failed bomb attack on Egyptian premier Atef Sedki, 1 dead

1930 690 earthquake shocks recorded in one day. (Ito, Japan).

Will we do it ? - (24/11)

We had quite a good month in October as far as output was concerned - not as high as was expected, but none the less with lots of hard work clearing the intake it was our best month... but we want to do better and so with six and a half days left in November and the leaves still falling we are targeting ourselves in producing more electricity in November than we did in October.

By this morning we had generated 18232kWh for November which is about 7000 short of Octobers total - so watch this space - it will be close !

Its all systems go... - (22/11)

What an amazingly busy and productive time we are in :

Finance : A great response to our Invitation to invest, please keep those requests coming in.

Landscaping : This is set to commence (small bits have started already, but I mean diggers and exciting stuff) on 1 December, the site will be temporarily fenced off whilst work takes place..

Christmas Tree and lights - to be installed in the next week

AGM : Saturday 29 November

Daily stuff : Health and safety documentation, volunteer lists, intake clearing to name but a few of the things that the Directors are organising in the background.