STEAM museum Swindon. Otherwise known asSTEAM – the museum of the Great Western Railway. As a rule with these Swindon in 50 More Buildings posts the title is the name of the building – the Link Centre for example. But it’s somewhat impossible to give a singular name to the Grade II listed building that houses this tourist tribute to God’s Wonderful Railway. And that’s because it comprises a number of buildings.
NB: this post is about the building that houses STEAM museum – NOT the museum itself.
STEAM museum Swindon from the side
According to the museum website, the structure now containing STEAM is ‘ a complex piece of industrial archaeology’ that comprises several buildings built over a long period. The earliest of these buildings is the 1846 machine and fitting shop -part of Brunel’s original Works complex. Once known as the scraggery* this area now houses the museum’s entrance hall and public facilities.
*Nuts and bolts were renovated for re-use in a process known as scragging.
STEAM museum Swindon 1846 – front desk
The building retains its queen-post roof and some original windows. To the south is the much-modified blacksmith’s shop. It also dates from 1846, although its conversion to a substation early in the twentieth century caused dramatic alterations to its character.
The main body of the museum
The main body of the museum served as a machine and turning shop – set up when the GWR covered over a courtyard between the original 1843 Brunel engine house and the 1846 machine and fitting shop. Finished in two stages between 1865 and 1872 the ‘R’ Shop features a ridge and furrow roof with case iron columns supporting it.
Despite modification in 1929/30 the building remained a machine shop for most of its life. For the most part it contained belt-driven equipment – until the outbreak of WWII at any rate.
Come the 1960s, the building again underwent modification – this time into a wheel shop. This conversion saw the removal of the block floor and the addition of a new concrete slab. Despite all these alterations though, it retains many original features. Some of them emerged during the refurbishment process.
As the STEAM website tells us, ‘Swindon Railway Works opened in January 1843 as a repair and maintenance facility for the new Great Western Railway. By 1900 the works had expanded dramatically and employed over 12,000 people. At its peak in the 1930s, the works covered over 300 acres and could produce three locomotives a week.
Despite a brief renaissance in the 1970s, the works finally closed in 1986.
New Sponsor for Paralympian Judo Star. Global leader in decentralized renewable energy systems Ryse Energy has stepped up to to the plate. They’re going to sponsor paralympian Chris Hunt Skelley MBE as he attempts to become a double medal winner at next year’s paralympic games as part of paralympics GB.
The thiry-year-old who lives in Wiltshire with his wife Louise and trains in the midlands is on track to qualify to compete in the Paris 2024 paralympics in the summer of next year. His aim is to achieve something not achieved in over twenty-five years in his sport. That being to get a medal in two paralympic games in different weight categories. Chris won gold in his sport of judo in Tokyo. But his weight category no longer exists so he’s competing in the new +90 kg category.
‘I’m so grateful to Alistair and his team at Ryse Energy for seeing something in me. And for helping me to achieve my dreams. It’s tough to lead a life like this, costs are so high. I’m very humbled when a company like Ryse Energy invests in me.’
New Sponsor for Paralympian Judo Star – Chris Hunt Skelley
About Ryse Energy
Ryse Energy is an impact-driven, innovative, decentralized renewable energy technology company. It has more than 180,000 installations across all seven continents. The company is a primary manufacturer of high-performance small wind turbines, with a range of products from micro to medium capacity. It has bases in the UK, the UAE, USA, Spain and Sri Lanka. Its HQ is in Blackpool.
Alistair Munro is company founder and CEO.
He said: ‘Our portfolio of wind technology is the most diverse and advanced in the sector. We offer wind and solar as standalone technologies. They’re either grid-connected or off-grid with energy storage. We hybridize our wind technology with solar PV and energy storage to create bespoke and reliable solutions across a variety of sectors. This ranges from decarbonizing infrastructure such as telecoms and oil and gas, to community power for rural electrification.’
Supporting Chris is also personal for Alistair who was himself a world champion in white water canoeing in his sporting career in the 1970s and 1980s. He went on to become a coach and a mentor in his sport.
Alistair said: ‘Chris is an inspiration. Everything about him and what he has gone through and achieved so far is incredible. In judo, there is no hiding place. It’s wonderful for Ryse Energy to be able to give back in this way to sponsor Chris – and other young talent. Thus enabling them to have the opportunities that I once had.’
Alistair Munro of Ryse Energy
2024
In early 2024, Chris will be competing in three grand prix judo events in Germany, Turkey and Georgia to qualify for Paris2024 and then to get seeded. During 2023, he was world No 1 for most of the year and is currently ranked at No 2.
I’m so very grateful for the support of Ryse Energy and my other sponsors who enable me to compete at the highest level. I have everything to go for in 2024 and I’m determined to make every day count. None of this would be possible without the support of my wife, my family, my team and my sponsors,’ Chris said.
The Woman in Black is a stage play dating from 1987. Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt, it’s based on the 1983 book of the same name, by Susan Hill. And, according to my companion at the theatre last night, the play is faithful to the book.
I do love a bit of drama me – on the stage that is – not in life. I have fond memories of Armchair Theatre on ITV andThe Wednesday Playon the BBC eons ago. Thus I’m delighted to report that I got a good drama dose at the Wyvern theatre last night in the form of The Woman in Black.
A bit about the play
From the official website there’s this summation of the plot – and that’s all I’m going to give you. You need to see it to appreciate how this tragic story unfolds.
‘An elderly lawyer is obsessed with a curse. A curse that he believes the eponymous female cast over him and his family many years earlier. He engages a sceptical young actor to help him tell his terrifying story. And, in so doing, exorcise the fear that grips his soul. But, as they reach further into the man’s deepest, darkest memories, they find themselves caught up in a world of eerie marshes and moaning winds.’
The play is a two-hander (aside from the uncredited spectre) and the action takes place in a theatre in the 1950s. I thought the set/staging/adaptation was rather clever – the use of griege sacking type fabric on the front of an extended stage effectively evoked the aforementioned marshes and causeway in the sea that one had to cross to get to the deserted house. Of COURSE there’s a dark, deserted house!
The use of lighting was rather clever too. The younger of the players clicked his fingers and the light changed to signal a shift from the present to the past – and back.
The stage setting of the play
Root about on the Internet and you’ll see this play described as the most terrifying live theatre experience in the world. I think perhaps that’s rather over-egging the pudding a tad. BUT, that said, there are bumps and jumps in it. And it’s definitely gripping, tense and atmospheric.
So drag yourself away from Netflix and give it a go.
Mary died in Swindon on November 29th 2023 aged 98.
As the article points out, Mary Ratcliffe worked at a secret code breaking base in Middlesex. There she helped to decipher coded messages intercepted from the Nazis. She decoded messages encrypted by German Enigma machines using Bombe machinesinvented by Alan Turing at Bletchley Park.
The main base for codebreaking was of course at the famous Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes. But Mary’s site in Eastcote was one of several others established to ensure that if one was bombed or sabotaged, the rest would still be operational.
Swindon’s Secret Code Breaker Mary Ratcliffe – image courtesy of Robert Slade
A Swindon fixture
I posted the aforementioned article on Facebook and the post got a great number of responses from people who knew her from her community stuff and appearances as Queen Victoria at fetes etc. She was a familiar face across the town thanks to her willingness to support good causes in royal guise.
Her family recounts how she took great pride in her work yet spoke little of it. That being down to the secrecy that surrounded her war work.
Pride of Swindon
In 2008, Mrs Ratcliffe then became one of the first-ever recipients of the Pride of Swindon award for her work doing soup runs for the homeless with the Simon Community, and her campaigns for various social causes.
In tribute, her family said of her: ‘Whether as Mary or Queen Victoria, she championed underdogs with eloquent ferocity and actively supported humanitarian causes ranging from elder abuse to homelessness. he tackled grave issues, where others feared to tread and as such was always true to herself.’
In it Mary tells them: ‘Joining the Women’s Royal Naval Service at 19 was a defining moment for me.’ ‘At the Mill Hill recruiting station in North London I was interviewed and assigned to a base.’  ‘I wasn’t told where I was going, or the nature of the work I would be doing. They bundled us into an Army lorry and pulled the flap down. Our “secret” destination was Eastcote, in Middlesex …
… Our vow of silence was absolute. We weren’t allowed to discuss our work with anybody. Nor were we allowed to wear a category badge. If asked, we had to say we were recruits, which, of course, would not stimulate any further interest. The 30 years vow of silence was sacrosanct, even after the end of the war.’
Photos below courtesy of Robert Slade
Swindon’s Secret Code Breaker Mary Ratcliffe holding some writing about Alan Turing.The government code and cyber school certificate and medal/badgeGovernment code and cyber school badge
A Year in Malmesbury Life. For a small rural market town, with a population a little over 7,000 people, Malmesbury has crammed a lot into 2023.
And as residents sit back and reflect on the year, it’s notable how many events have been ‘firsts’ for the town -nestling in the north of Wiltshire, on the edge of the Cotswolds.
Led by Malmesbury Town Council, often working in partnership with other local organisations, not a month goes by without something going on.
A Year in Malmesbury Life – Hugh Pym speaking
So, what’s been happening during 2023?
Well! As the oldest borough in England, the town likes to hold a ceremony or two. March saw a Jubilee tree dedication take place. Then in May, town staged the annual Mayor’s Ball, followed a few days later by the Mayor’s Robing Ceremony.
April saw a ‘first’ organised by the Town Council. In an effort to support and thank the many clubs and community groups that continued to provide a service during the pandemic, they organised a community day.
Military ties
The town has strong ties with servicemen and women at 9 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps. And in May the town awarded them the Freedom of the Town of Malmesbury. People turned out in droves to watch the regiment parade through the town.
June was a big month for the versatile town hall building – used as a venue for productions and cinema screenings. Malmesbury Town Council performed the official opening of its new retractable tiered seating. That replacef the old dining style chairs. So now audiences can watch in comfort, with much improved viewing.
Malmesbury has a strong cultural heritage. So August saw the month-long High Street Arts Gallery. Then retailers displayed the work of local artists, creating a trail of artwork around the town.
Another ‘first’ came in September, and hitting a high note, was the town’s inaugural Folk & Roots Festival. Organised in record time, and staged in the Cloister Gardens of Malmesbury Abbey, the event was a sellout. So plans are already underway for an encore in 2024.
November saw 9 Regiment RLC on parade in the town again, for the Service of Remembrance.
Then came December
Then onto December and the annual Christmas late night shopping. Son of Malmesbury, BBC Health Editor Hugh Pymperformed the opening ceremony.
Dotted amongst all this, throughout the year, were celebrations of Ukraine’s festival of Ivana Kupala, organised with Malmesbury Stands by Ukraine and the many Ukrainian refugees in the town. German schoolchildren visited Malmesbury School to strengthen the 70-year-old ties with Malmesbury’s twin town, Niebull. There was a town picnic to mark the King’s Coronation. And Malmesbury Town Council ran its annual Malmesbury in Bloom competition for residents, traders and schoolchildren.
‘We’re nothing if not busy in Malmesbury,’ said Town Mayor Cllr Gavin Grant. ‘Our town councillors and local groups work together to ensure there is plenty going on for residents, businesses and visitors. And thanks to their hard work our small market town is on the map.’
The late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman loved Malmesbury, calling it, ‘A city set on a hill which cannot be hid.’ The town is, for certain, making sure its activities are in the spotlight.
So what’s planned for 2024? More of the same, with one special ‘first’. Next year marks 1100 years since the naming of King Athelstan as the first King of England. And guess where he lived and is reputedly buried? Malmesbury.
