Walking along the edge of the Fleet earlier this week with Ollie at 7:30am (and -5 Deg C!) the ebbing tide had left, as usual, rock pools and seaweed draped across rocks but the pools and seaweed all had a coating of ice. The rising sun was also quite dramatic:
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| Sunrise over Portland |
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| Frozen rock pools and seaweed |
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| More ice on the foreshore |
Also this week I have been helping with the archaeology survey at St. George's Church Portland. The Churches Conservation Trust have started on a course of conservation and heritage by setting the gravestones which have toppled, or are in danger of falling, back to a perpendicular position. This work is ongoing with a team of conservationists and masons on site for a couple of months. The part of the project I was involved with was a survey of the churchyard working with Wessex Archaeology, recording the position of each plot, monument and tombstone using mega expensive (about £7 - 9000 per instrument) high precision GPS surveying equipment allowing us to fix the position of each one to an accuracy of about 2cm. We also plotted the floor plan of the church again using laser optics to measure angles precisely and distances within 1mm. The Dorset Echo ran an article this week and there was a bit on BBC local news on Friday night. The Army had a presence with some soldiers who had been serving in Afghanistan who hope to become archaeologists when they leave the service.
The work at the church is ongoing with some more precision photography to hopefully record some of the inscriptions which are no longer visible and 3D laser scanning of some of the monuments to come.
Change hats - back to Royal Manor Workshops - we have had a great start to the year with the new textile Saturday group getting off to a good start and Stained Glass group up to 13 members now.
We have some major publicity events planned this year with the first being at the Sailing Academy on the 31st March when they academy have a "Outdoors" show with an opportunity for people to try outdoor activities like kayaking, windsurfing, sailing and a whole host of other activities. I was approached and asked if we would like to participate by showing what else the Island has to offer and they are delighted we are showcasing our talents. Their web site is http://www.wpnsaevents.co.uk - there are taster sessions for all sorts of things which you can book on the website and admission is free. Tasters include Sailing, Windsurfing, Stand up paddle boarding, Surf-Ski-Paddling Yachting, Bike demos, Kayaking, Skate park, mobile climb wall, Coasteering. Might be a good place to take children or grandchildren for a day out. Open 10 - 5.
We have a workshop on 17th March with Jennie Rayment (the Muslin Mistress - wonder why she changed from being called the Calico Queen ). This workshop is entitled Fizz Bang Wallop - this is what it is all about :
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| Fizz, Bang Wallop - beautiful textured quilted squares | Play with shape, form and pattern and construct two or three innovative 12” square textured designs. Amaze at the ease with which intriguing manipulated effects can be produced by just folding, rolling, tweaking and twitching squares and rectangles. Combine a selection of the blocks for an innovative quilt or utilise individually in cushions/bags/quags and all! |
Finally we still have a vacancy for minutes secretary - not too onerous we meet about every 4-6 weeks and would like a volunteer to record the proceedings. If you can help with this task it would be much appreciated. (we have thrown away the quill pen and now use word processing program on a PC so you need to have a PC and an email address). That's all for now so as I finish this on Saturday afternoon in between Barbara and I making and bottling Farmhouse Chutney, Barbara is settling down to knit and watch Six Nations and Ollie and I are off for a walk along the edge of the Fleet on what is a lovely sunny albeit cool afternoon.
Take care and hope to see you at events or workshops or at one of the groups.
Martin
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