Strong lads - (26/06)

Another great picture courtesy of Alan Jennings - just goes to show how 'strong' the construction team are working down on the Torrs Hydro project.

Thats a lot of water in that river ! - (25/06)

A somewhat bizarre picture with a flying JCB and workforce with heads poking out of the water.

I know its stating the obvious but since breaking through the river wall at the bottom end of the turbine there sure is a lot of water about !

Now the debris has been cleared and the depth of the channel is correct a new 'stronger' coffer dam will have to be put in place to hold back the millions of litres of water that crash over the Torr weir each day - and thats a whole lot of water to hold back !

Next on the jobs to be done this week include starting to build the exit archway (this will look like a masterpiece when completed) and to concrete the fish pass so that the aluminium ladder can be put in pace to allow our trout and salmon to head up river towards Hayfield on the Sett or towards Whaley Bridge on the Goyt.

Carefully being moved into position the frame for the stone archway.

My thanks go to Alan Jennings for these great pictures.

Into the river we go - (24/06)

At this stage of the project it was time to open up the tail race out into the main river by breaking through the existing mill wall that had retained the river for the past 150 years. This in itself brings challenges as two diggers had to be lowered into the River Goyt (suitably above water to ensure environment agency guidelines are maintained) and then a process of removing years of debris and ensuring the correct depth for the exit.

Welcome to The Mersey Basin Trust - (24/06)

Last week Torrs Hydro New Mills played host to a group from The Mersey Basin Trust, after a brief tour of The New Mills Heritage Centre we came down to have a project overview with WRE whilst basking in the glorious New Mills weather - we look forward to hopefully working more closely with them in the future.

Some more Big Lift pics.... - (24/06)

Courtesy of Jeanne Daniels.

Busy, busy, busy - (23/06)

What a hectic place the site is at the moment - and not only so much happening form a construction point of view there are lots of interesting things for the public to watch as well.

Today we lowered two diggers into the River Goyt to enable the tail gate to be suitably formed (removing years of debris and creating the exit channel).

The debris is the lifted from the river in a skip using a large crane - at the same time this is happening the remaining railway sleepers are being hoisted out of the concrete run and stacked ready for sale.

Some pictures of todays happenings will follwo later this afternoon and remember keep those suggestions coming in for a name for our Archimedes screw to secretary@torrshydro.co.uk

Whats in a name... - (22/06)

Well the weather on Saturday was slightly damp, but what a great turn out at the New Mills One World Festival and great to see so much interest in the Torrs Hydro stand and to meet so many of our local shareholders

The tours down to the Hydro site during the day were a great success also so a big thanks to Chris and Yvette at WRE for all their help with that.

Just a reminder that we are now officially looking for a name for our Archimidean Screw - it can be something quirky, maybe you want to name it after a friend of yours, or even your pet dog !

Send your suggestions (you can have as many suggestions as you like) to us at Torrs Hydro secretary@torrshydro.co.uk - the winner will be announced in July and will be suitably rewarded.