Museum of technology in South Lincolnshire

[CambridgeWorks]

http://www.museumoftechnology.org.uk

Is the link to the attractive website. Only opened very recently after having moved to Throckenholt in the very South of the county. Looks to be a lot of interesting things for our forum readers.
Met the owner today at the Spalding 1940s weekend. A must visit with my grandson.
Rob

A bit far for one of my weekend day museum visits, I may have a look round the area to see if a whole weekend job is useful. Stay in a nice pub Saturday night!

[CambridgeWorks]

I have not visited Throckenholt yet, so don't know what it is like.
There looks to be a lot of interesting items on their website.
There is always Thorpe Camp museum/collection, just outside Coningsby, approx 30 miles North I guess. The pub a few 100 yards away is The Bluebell Inn, with a lot of Bomber Command memorabilia /617 squadron. They do a nice lunch with good ale as well.
There is Petwood hotel, in Woodhall Spa close by. We visited there a few years back at a RAOTA get-together. The manager kindly allowed us to look round the bar area where it was the officers mess in WW2.
Then there is East Kirkby Aviation centre, home of the Lancaster "Just Jane".
I could go on about "bomber county"!
BTW, the Lancaster gave a wonderful fly past at our Spalding event today.
I know there are a lot more places of interest as well, just depends what you want.
Rob

[David G4EBT]

Looks excellent - thanks for posting about it Rob.

We lived at Spalding in 1969, when I was the local service manager for British Gas for Spalding, Boston and Stamford.

That was back in the 'Cold War Era' and the 'four minute warning' ('Protect and Survive' and all that malarkey, though the advice booklets of that name weren't issued to households until the mid 1970s). The WW2 air raid sirens were still operational and were sited on the roof of the offices, though the gas works had closed down in the early 1960s. One of my responsibilities was to test the 'red alert' siren (each Tuesday at 9am as I recall), followed a few minutes later by the 'all clear'.

In the event of a nuclear attack, the siren would be sounded for real, to warn everyone in earshot that they were about to become toast in four minutes.

The duty of activating the siren fell to the Chief Clerk, who took his work very seriously. He was also Chairman of the Council - the equivalent of the Lord Mayor. All rather evocative of Dad's Army, but for the likes of me and people of my generation who recall nights spent in air raid shelters when the sirens went off in WW2, (I was six when the war ended), hearing the siren being tested certainly gave us the jitters, and does even now if I hear it in a film.

Air raid imminent:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/sub...air_raid_siren

All Clear:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/sub...ll_clear_siren

We're still good friends with our former neighbours in Spalding, which - though only 90 miles from Hull - is a tortuous 2.5 Hr journey.

Next time we visit, we'll of also visit this splendid museum. It will be interesting to see how many of the extensive collection of exhibits on the website are actually on display.

[Peter.N.]

Looks interesting, I have just had a virtual tour by means of the web site, will try and remember to go if I get round that way.

Peter

[Nicklyons2]

The local BBC 'Look North', Yorks and Lincs version (the one hosted by Peter Levi) did a piece on this last week, maybe still available on the i-player. Sorry but I can't remember which day.

[reelguy]

Thanks for posting about the museum,
My daughter lives in Kings Lynn so not too far to travel when I next visit.
I have some of the recorders shown. Most worked when I tried them last.
Peter W ....Reelguy

[David G4EBT]

My wife & I made a point of visiting the museum last Saturday and we weren't disappointed.

Stayed B&B to the south of Spalding on Friday, visited a former neighbour, and went to Springfields, (where they have a 'water taxi' that takes you into Spalding Centre if you wish).

The museum is a truly remarkable place conceived and run by two hugely enthusiastic and inspirational people - Trevor Cass - the Museum Director, and Rose, the Curator.

The museum had been located at Hemel Hempstead, but there was so much equipment that it had outgrown the premises so Trevor & Rose began a search for a better location to expand what could be displayed. The uninformed might think "well a museum needs to be in a centre of population density - not out in the back of beyond". The problem with that for a small specialist museum which is a registered charity is that premises in towns are expensive and have restrictions on parking and so forth.

Trevor and Rose found a bungalow in which to live, with some ground attached for a museum car park, and a ramshackle barn which was falling down. They set about getting plans drawn up, which would satisfy the planners and not stand out like a sore thumb. Having gained permission, the barn had to be demolished, the site had to be cleared and the museum built from scratch. At first sight, it could be mistaken for an older building that had been adapted, and I guess that was the aim - a low impact building in a rural setting, that blends in, as indeed it does.

All of the exhibits - many of them rare, delicate and irreplaceable - had to be catalogued, carefully packed, transported from Hemel Hempstead, unpacked and displayed. It's to the great credit of Trevor & Rose that only one item was smashed - a rare glass object about 10 cms long, the name of which escapes me, shaped rather like a cows udder. Trevor was heartbroken, but eventually managed to get it repaired and restored by a specialist glassblower in Germany.

The exhibits - spanning 1830 - 1980 are first class examples of their kind, nicely displayed in purpose-designed cabinets, and neatly labelled. They trace the history of telegraphy and telephony from the early days, and there's an excellent display of WW1 and WW2 exhibits including radios, weapons and the like. Also, a nice range of domestic radios and a few TVs.

For my wife and me, it was well worth the effort and we spent a good two hours there.

Brought back many childhood memories for us - seeing the child's gasmask, which reminded me of what I'd just started school aged 5 in 1944, and forgot to take my gas-mask for gas-mask drill held in 'playtime'. I was sent home to fetch it, and wandered off on the 3 mile walk return trip in no great rush to get back to school! (Not sure many Primary School teachers today would pack a five year old off home unaccompanied).

I have to pinch myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming that two people in Hemel Hempstead really did say "this place is too small - what about moving?" Then touring the country, coming across a bungalow with a bit of land and an old barn in the fens, and had the vision to conclude "Yes - this will do fine - we'll pull that barn down, draw up some plans, get a museum built, and move everything lock stock and barrel". Then they got on with it and did just that! They have my admiration and I'm sure all visitors will feel the same way.

It's located to the south of Spalding, north of Peterborough. Not open all of the time and will be closing during the winter months, so best to ring Trevor on 01945 700772.

I've attached a few pics to give some indication of what's on display.

There's one of the 'sausage bulb' heaters, and a 'snake oil' conical receiving aerial, both of which recently featured on the forum!.

[David G4EBT]

A few more pics, which I hope may be of interest.

Worth saying that there is also a quite extensive display of WW2 weaponry.

[Nickthedentist]

Very nice! Thanks for the pictures, David.

N.

[G6Tanuki]

In the "military" photo I see:

Top row: a couple of HROs with coil-pack stackm T1154
Middle row: 19-set, R1155, R1475
Another 18-set, 62-set, CR100
A40/A41 in haversack, AR88, 19-set spare valve kit, RA17

[David G4EBT]

It's a first class display, but I'm not into military stuff - I only ever had one 1155 which I stripped down and used as a donor set to built a half decent short-wave receiver, from an article which featured in Short Wave magazine back in the 70s. Ripped out all the redundant stuff (DF, magic eye, plugs and sockets etc), re-valved, including new valve-holders (B8G/B9G?) for using higher performance valves. Just kept the coils, tuning cap, tuning mechanism & dial, IFTs and 'switchery. New front panel, all sprayed light grey and lettered upS Meter, built-in PSU audio amp and speaker etc. It made a nice receiver in a domestic setting and worked well enough.

It's quite remarkable how rapidly the war effort geared up to produce radio and radar equipment for the war effort, and though most would argue that it had to be rugged to withstand battlefield conditions, a lot of it with hindsight, does seem to be a tad over-engineered. The average life of a Lancaster in WW2 before it came to grief was just 19 weeks, but maybe when the 1155 was on the drawing board, they weren't to be able to foretell that. It would be interesting to know what MTBF (mean time before failure) they designed for. Wouldn't surprise me if most of the ex WD stuff that flooded the market in the 50s and 60s stemmed from gross over production, with much of it never coming out of storage till after the war. It went through another 'war' when amateurs got their hands on 1155s, 19 sets etc, and modified it to suit their needs. Like me with my 1155, there was no notion of wanting to own one as a collector's item - such sets had to 'earn their living' and there can't be many around today that have escaped 'peacetime' meddling and molestation of one sort or another, not to mention the ravages of time.

I think that the 1155 in the museum display may possibly be the Naval version (called something else?), as it's clearly marked 'STEEL' of the front panel, whereas I believe the airborne ones were aluminium. As to the display of military rigs in the museum, there's only a couple that I'd ever have wanted to own and use - the AR88 or Racal, but really, far too large, heavy and complex except for keen enthusiasts of such equipment. The HRO on display has all its coil-packs, and all of the equipment throughout the museum is pristine. A couple of close-up pics attached.

If anyone wishes to visit the museum, do first ring up as it's not open every day and will close some time in October for the winter months. Well worth the journey.

[pastyboy]

Hopefully not too far off topic, the 1940's weekend at woodhall spa is a great weekend, lots of vintage stuff for sale and on display, working radio waggons etc. We are now in Cornwall but 'er indoors's family are up that way so we try and go every July its on.

The bubble car museum near Boston is well worth a visit, they also have a mock up
1950's room complete with wireless and a console telly. Will check out the museum link as it looks interesting. Loads of antique shops around Holbeach and especially Horncastle but never spotted any tellies, few wooden wireless set though.

[Gonzini]

Been their today, they said it will be open for a few more weeks as had interest to stay open for a while longer.
It's well worth the effort to visit, not huge but still took 2.5 hrs to look round. There's still stuff in storage they said but need to build somemore display cabinates.
We wouldn't of found it without the satnav coming down from Sleaford on the A17, it really is in the middle of nowhere!