Saturday, December 19th, 2020
Museum working party 17th Dec 2020
The Tywyn weather mojo calmed the high winds and eased away the overnight rain clouds but didn't quite get around to delivering a bright sunny start. Not to worry, the team were working inside the museum again this morning; Charles Benedetto, Neal Chapman, Andrew Allwood, Max Birchenough, John Olsen and guest star Andy Sheffield, were ready to increase our storage capacity.
Following the undoubted success of the first tube rack in the museum store Andrew and Max were presented with a pair of pre-painted battens and 14 gutter brackets by John and asked to make a second rack to attach to the wall over the store plan press. Neal and Charles got to fabricate a new shelf out of our store of recycled timber and MDF sheeting, to double the shelving capacity in the Long Term Storage (LTS) space behind cabinet C12. The first job being to unscrew the wall panel that hides the LTS from public gaze, then measure up the dimensions of the shelf itself.
Andy put his talents as a window cleaner, he had done all the Wharf Station windows only a few days previously, to excellent use cleaning down the vertical rising door glazing. This not only keeps the plastic clean but also washes away any salty encrustations from the aluminium framing, minimising salt corrosion. John helped Andrew clear the boxes that were occupying the top of the plan press before then working on dismantling the scaffold tower, as this would not be required for any further work this side of Christmas.
Sawing, drilling and filing ensued as the two teams worked on their pieces on the ground floor until coffee time was called and we repaired to the cafe with Ann and Winston McCanna for our morning break. This morning a cornucopia of chocolate shortbread, buttered bara brith, Tywyn buns and cinnamon flavoured flapjacks were passed around in lieu of the normal biscuits as we enjoyed a festive feast. Midway through the proceedings Mike Green joined us with his coffee and mince pies and David Broadbent put in a fleeting appearance to wish us all a Happy Christmas, dispensing cards and a fruit cake for our further delectation, before departing like a passing spring breeze. This mornings chat, when we didn't have something delicious in our mouths, encompassed the cost benefit analysis of HS2, cathedral acoustics and how the modern multi-sided or circular types were a sonic mess, the importance of good organ positioning and, inevitably, the COVID lockdown that Wales shall be in from December 28th. But the good news is that we don't have to go further than fifty yards over the railway bridge to our very own pop-up COVID testing centre, our Christmas is complete!
Refreshed, and rather full, we returned to the museum where the sound of hammer drilling heralded Andrew getting the new rack up onto the wall ready to be filled with the remaining loose tubes and rolled up papers from the store room shelves and some of the tubes that had been balancing precariously on the top of the shelves in the office. Further drilling emanated from the LTS as Neal and Charles fitted their freshly minted shelf into position, ready for whatever items need secure, but low access, storage. John took Henry downstairs for a session to remove the sawdust that all the industry of the past few hours had generated and then with a final clear up of the tools back to the Gunpowder Store and the last bits of the scaffold tower secured under the stairs we declared our 2020 labours complete.
By the close of play one new tube rack had been put up (and filled), one new shelf had been fabricated and fitted (yet to be filled) and quiet returned as we left museum assistant Frank working at the computer.
We wish our readers a Happy Christmas, a safe New Year, and we will hopefully see you in the museum at some point in the near future.
Pictures by John Olsen ... See more