Our move from the Styx to Mere in S.W. Wiltshire was not as smooth as we had hoped, both at the selling end and subsequent to moving into our new dwelling. I won’t bore you with the significant incompetences associated with our house sale, and problems encountered with work done on the new house prior to our moving in, but sufficient to say that we are very happy to have moved to a relatively modern house after thirty years living in, and keeping up, historic crumbling old piles that are the objects of desire of urban folk who think that such buildings wrap themselves around you in a warm comforting glow of period cosiness. I’m not sure that fully automated computer controlled gas fired central heating will ever be the thing for me, having spent 40 years keeping warm with the aid of a coal shovel (that DOES give out a cosy glow!) but it will see us through this winter while we explore options for a  return to good solid fired heat.

One thing that happened with great speed (after the establishment of the kitchen!) was the arrival of a new fully insulated shed for my workshop. It is currently in a state of organised chaos while I work out how to arrange it, but these thing tend to have a natural sequence which is revealed as homes are found for the major items like the machine tools, and then it is clear where the tools and attachments will be best at hand and the best place to site a workbench for vices and all the associated hand tools. The machine tools have been transferred from the garage, and a bench the full length on one side is now in place and somehow transformed the building from being just a shed full of stuff into being a workshop, and will be duly fitted with vices following which I can arrange all my hand tools on the wall above it.

It’s as well the machines were moved when they were as the garage roof sprang a leak during a day’s downpour. From when we arrived the dehumidifiers have been running overtime and so far there no sign of any rust on those precious slideways and other precision surfaces. I think keeping the workshop air dry is the simplest and cheapest way by far to combat the rust demon and has always worked for me. I hope to be able to get down to some engineering by April if not a little sooner, although there is still the wiring to be done, Power at present is by a long extension lead from the garage.

Mid March

Progress has been slower than anticipated, and the real reason has become clear, which is that the new workshop is smaller !! 1ft. Shorter, 3ft. Narrower and 1ft. less in height adds up to a lot less space than I had before, and so I have had to stop thinking about how I had everything arranged before, and set things up in the space that IS available but such that all the things that I use regularly are handy. This has created a certain amount of early re-arrangement of some items, and this will doubtless continue so that all the metalworking tools are together within reach of their vice, and likewise the woodworking tools. The old workshop grew around things as they were acquired, whereas now I have had to deal with it all at once and this has led to a ‘cull into storage’ of many items that were previously out but for which there is now no room, so they are now in labelled boxes in the small annexe attached to the garage.

I see with much regret that there is to be no Model Engineer Exhibition this year. I’m not surprised as the three I have attended in recent years have shown a steady decline in almost everything except the endeavours of SMEE who have soldiered on valiantly and kept a heart beating in this long established event. Percival Marshall would indeed turn in his grave at what has happened to this famous exhibition.

There must be a reason for so many of the trade exhibitors to have decided it is not worth their while to take a stand, and likewise the builders of models not to want to enter for the various competitions, some categories of which have ancient and venerable status, not to mention a cabinet full of important trophies. I was amazed at how few steam locomotives and traction engines that were there last time, I saw 3 or 4 times as many at a small exhibition in Wilton recently, so the models are there but not the will to exhibit, and it maybe just that there isn’t the interest, or maybe it is made too difficult or expensive, or sufficient will or interest on the part of the magazine proprietors to continue to fully support it.

That there are at least 3 other highly successful exhibitions belies any suggestion that there is waning interest in the field, especially with regard to trade attendance, so what’s wrong? Surely we are not going to allow this long standing event to die. Perhaps a survey would reveal why the trade side is so thin, and why exhibits are also dwindling. I saw trade stands at Sandown Park that hadn’t the remotest connection with model engineering, why on earth were they there?  Dare I say that the barrel was being scraped to avoid the place looking even more empty than it was to help balance the books?  I, for one, didn’t travel from West Devon to be presented with cheap tacky jewellery!

See move from The Styx here.