Due to the current Government restrictions the museum is currently closed. We are hoping to re-open as soon as we can. In the meantime we will not be resting on our laurels, and will continue with our work to restore and develop our exhibits so that you can enjoy and even better experience when we re-open !

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Refurbishment of the Cork area

Whilst the museum is closed, the volunteer team is busy refurbishing and planning the re-interpretation of the Cork display. Cork is a fascinating substance that was used extensively in local industry in the past.

It is made from the bark of the cork oak (Quercus suber), the predominant tree species in Portugal. Portugal accounts for just over half of the world’s cork output, producing 157,000 tonnes annually. There are also plantations in France, Spain, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Over 100,000 people depend on cork growing and processing in these countries.

Entire pieces of cork are also used in footwear, furniture, interior decoration as well as older lifebuoys. The baseball ball has a round cushioned cork centre called a “pill.” Ground-up cork is “baked” and compressed to make floor and wall tiles, good for acoustic isolation. Granulated cork is added to concrete for thermal insulation and reduced weight. Shredded cork is used in ablative thermal protection coating on booster rockets, including the Space Shuttle’s external tank, which is jettisoned as the ship leaves the Earth’s atmosphere.

Waterwheel working again

Great news, the waterwheel at the museum has been repaired and restored and is now working again, complete with it’s new special golden paddle !

Adrian Wiszniewski writes:
Work started in June 2019 to strip the old buckets away. We started with a risk assessment to put in place the necessary safety systems and procedures to work at a height some 16 feet above the base line of the tank. We began by installing temporary locking bars to prevent the wheel rotating, using chain blocks and slings as an extra layer of safety which also took any backlash out of the arrangement. Wooden removable platforms were made, to fit inside the wheel at axle level, and also to fit the gap between the periphery of the wheel and the front wall of the tank. We had to strip only a yard or so at a time and then rotate the wheel through half a turn to strip the corresponding amount off the other side. This would be repeated at 90 degrees to the first section and so on to keep the balance of the wheel to a manageable degree. The spokes were replaced, one by one, using similar procedures. The COVID 19 crisis caused a lengthy stoppage of work but we can now seethe end in sight and expect to see the wheel back in action, hopefully by early November.

The Team ; Rasoul Hemmapour, Rob Heron, Adrian Jackson, Sandy Mclure, Roger Swift, Adrian Wiszniewski