Quarterly Update January 31, 2013

At the Trustee meeting on 15 January 2013, the following were among the items discussed.

Bob H-T’s presentation on Mellor Mill at GM Archaeology Day had been well received. There had been good interest and book sales at Melandra Open Day and Winter Wonderland in Marple Bridge. It was good to see “Mellor faces” at the GM Dig at Wood Hall, Stockport, where Maxine Wild’s pencil drawings were much admired. The Christmas lunch at Roman Lakes was a great success.

The annual accounts show a balance at year end of ~£22,000 in the general account and ~£7,000 in the fund for the Visitor Centre at Roman Lakes. Major sources of income (apart from the rest of the AIA grant for the wheelpit) were: from Friends (plus Gift Aid) ~£1,900; from donations (mainly for talks) ~£1,200; from sales of books and DVDs ~£3,300. Major items of expenditure were: for work on the British Archaeology Report (BAR) on the OV site ~££4,600; wheelpit (from MAT funds) ~£3000; website ~£1,500; new DVD ~£8,000. For 2013, in addition to “routine items”, major costs are £5,000 for the development stage of the “Revealing Oldknow’s Legacy….” project, ~£4,500 for the OV clay pipes report (if it ever comes), and possibly ~£5,000 for the BAR ( less if we can secure a grant from the Marc Fitch Fund), ~£2,000 for work on Mellor Mill and ~£1,000 for the website, which be less in future as Chris Walters becomes expert and does not need to call on the services of Mark Whittaker. The current prediction is that we could end 2013 with ~£10,000 in the general account.

A trio led by Maxine Wild will look into sources for T-shirts with the MAT logo. A public appeal is being launched to secure £3,500 to purchase the original painting of Mellor Mill by Joseph Parry. The new DVD by Chris Mann with the full story of the OV excavations and presentations at the final conference is available for £12, A leaflet folded from A3, “Samuel Oldknow, Mellor Mill and the Peak Forest Canal” is being designed by Neil Mullineux.

John Hearle and Bob H-T reported on good progress with the “Revealing Oldknow’s Legacy….” project (see report to be put on the Mellor Mill section of the website)..

Future events include a three-day Greater Manchester Industrial Archaeology Tour and a Promenade Theatre round the Mellor Mill area. A dig at Shaw Cairn from July 8-23 will be joined y students from Sheffield and Manchester Universities.

Talks continue to be given to a variety of groups.