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Diary

Here we will post a diary of the progress of the project so far.

16th March 2011 LATEST

 Following a very good meeting with Amberley staff, we feel the project is very much back on track. There have been some major changes and there will be challenges but we feel very positive about the situation. There is more than I can say in a diary entry, so I have written a piece here - please take a look.
 
23rd November 2010 The long wait from Amberley has now been explained. We have recently received an email with some rather worrying news. Apparently, in the current financial situation, Amberley has lost some of its grants. This has affected them so badly that they have made their paid director redundant and this position is now being filled by a volunteer. There seems to be some doubt that they have sufficient funds to clear and level the site proposed for our exhibit. There is a possibility that one of the other sites proposed earlier could be used. These would all require less groundwork. We are seeking a face to face meeting at the earliest opportunity.
 
13th September 2010 The Museum of London has generously donated four splendid modern display cases to our museum project. We collected these today and have them in temporary storage. Many thanks to The Museum of London, the men from the Yellow Van Company & all the site staff of BTG school for lots of (very!) heavy lifting. Special thanks to Keith Brock who brokered the deal. There are some pictures in the gallery. We will put up some better ones when we can 'pose' the cases.
 
6th August 2010 A site for the Fireworks museum has now been agreed with Amberley. It will be in the White Pits area, which is an excellent location for the project. Drawings has been submitted and you can see them here. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (free download) to access them.
 
25th July 2010 MAJOR NEWS! You will be pleased to hear that we have won a grant of £2500 from the Association for Industrial Archaeology (AIA) towards the rebuilding of the Wells sheds. This is a major breakthrough for the project.
 
16th July 2010 The book donated by Alan Wells has sold to a Danish fireworks enthusiast for £280! Many thanks to the buyer for this generous contribution to funds and to Alan for giving us the book.
 
24th June We have paid our second visit to the site and recovered more useful material, which is now stored at Amberley. We are now attempting to settle the final location of the exhibit, which is likely to be in the White Pits area.

John Bennett has been kind enough to give us the front page of Fireworks Magazine. You will find several references to the project in this issue including an excellent article from David Cox about his time at Joyce Green.

 
3rd June 2010 Alan Wells has very kindly donated a copy of his book, 'Bernard Wells, Pyrotechnist' for us to auction for funds. Only 20 copies were printed and only two have ever gone outside the Wells family. We will publish the details of the auction soon, but if you would like to be personally informed, please send your email address and name to us via the contact page.
 
10th April 2010 A team from UKPS were on site Tuesday 6th & Wednesday 7th of April and took down most of building 6. This has been moved to Amberley ready to be rebuilt. Excellent progress and many thanks to all the good people who helped.
 
19th March 2010 Major Progress! The new owners have agreed that they are happy for us to take any material we want and would like us to do it as soon as possible. It seems likely that we will get our team on site over Easter. We will start working out details this weekend.
 
14th March 2010 Amberley meeting went well, but the trustees are not fully agreed on what will be the best site for our project. We want to get this right so there will be further discussions.
 
4th March 2010 UKPS representatives will be meeting Amberley staff on Sunday to (hopefully) finalize the location and take accurate measurements with a view to drawing up plans for planning application. University of Greenwich seem to be causing undue delay in giving us a date for collection of material.
 
15th February 2010 - Reaction to the project is very positive. Donations large and small have been coming in, bringing the total to over £1000. Negotiations continue with University of Greenwich as to when we can start to collect material from Joyce Green. Risk assessment and method statement have been sent to UOG. Amberley staff are considering the best location at the site.
 
28th January 2010 - Amberley give the go-ahead. Website launched. Publicity flyers placed in 'Fireworks' magazine. Fund raising and appeals for help commenced.