The latest column piece by staff and volunteers at Malvern Museum.
WE ARE experiencing one of the wettest winters on record with a series of fierce storms sweeping in from the Atlantic causing coastal damage and resulting in river flooding notably on the Somerset Levels, along the Thames and the Severn at Worcester.
The repeated storms have done no favours to the Priory Gatehouse, the home of Malvern Museum.
Rain has been lashing into its south elevation of Tudor brickwork and the Victorian cast-iron downpipes have been struggling to cope.
The bad weather has helped to illustrate the poor condition of the building. In places water from blocked and broken downpipes has soaked through the wall damaging plaster and fittings inside the building.
Our architect notes that extreme weather events of the last five years have probably caused as much deterioration in historic buildings as is seen in 15 normal years.
The experiences of this winter have led the architect to propose an expanded programme of work for 2014, with repair and renewal of gutters and downpipes and conservation of Tudor stonework and brickwork as two of its main objectives.
The precise scope and costs of these works are currently being agreed between the architect and the museum’s trustees.
It is hoped the bulk of the costs will be found through a grant, with additional support from local fund-raising events.
The Henry Sandon event held on January 29 raised more than £800 for the Gatehouse appeal. Many thanks go to Mr Sandon and to all those who attended.
The next museum meeting is the AGM of the Friends Association, to be held at Christchurch Hall in Avenue Road at 7.30pm on Friday, February 28.
It will be followed by a short general knowledge quiz. Membership of the Friends (£10 single, £17 for a couple) allows free entry to the museum and to the Friends’ lecture series and members receive the museum newsletter, the “Newseum” including articles on the latest local history research.
