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AGM 2006
Wednesday 24th May, 7.30pm
at West Kirby Concourse
Members, visitors and public welcome.
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Update on Funding
In the last 12 months, the Friends of
Hilbre committee have been working with Mike Garbutt of Wirral Borough
Council to apply for high level funding. There is a lot of hard work
ahead. Smaller local funds have allowed us to buy reference books which
are now available for use by organised study parties, from schools and
colleges. For booking these group visits, (at present with no shelter on
offer), please check with the Rangers:
Wirral Country Park: 0151
648 4371 and Dave Cavanagh, Hilbre Island: 0151 632 4455
© Val Burnett
It is hoped, in the future,
to develop the former Buoy Master's complex of Victorian
buildings into a community study centre - the Hilbre Island Centre.
Hilbre’s development project must be
suitable for the natural history and buildings on the island. The 2 storey
Victorian house and its annexes are earmarked as a community study
facility, the Hilbre island Centre, without spoiling its old features.
Plans are afoot to build 2 compost toilets, and to lay on limited supplies
of water. Users will need to practise strict conservation of water and
butane gas. The slip way is still in a poor state, but we are continuing
to try for funding. It is an essential part of Hilbre’s landscape.
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The Hilbre Lifeboat
Station was built about 1839 and used until 1939 |
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Stormy
conditions of the past few years have
caused severe damage to the lifeboat slipway |
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Sandstone
blocks from the lifeboat slipway have
been scattered around the northern shore of Hilbre |
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Temporary
repair work was carried out in December 2004
to help counteract further erosion of the stub end of the
lifeboat slipway. Major reconstruction work is still needed |
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Workmen
spraying a concrete capping on the
stub end of the lifeboat slipway
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All photographs above
© Val Burnett
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| Other large donations
received by the Friends from the Hilbre Court public house, Wirral
Footpaths and Open Spaces Preservation Society, Wirral Borough Council
and anonymous local people are all contributing. We now have new
benches, reference books, and soon a telescope, for use by the Hilbre
Island Centre, even before it opens its doors. We hope that the
buildings will eventually give shelter to organised study visits
during the daytime.
Right: Two new benches
have been provided by the Friends of Hilbre with funds donated by the
Wirral Footpaths and Open Spaces Preservation Society.
© Val Burnett |
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issue'.
Practical Task Days
| The Friends of Hilbre
carry out a variety of practical and conservation tasks on the island
including bracken pulling, litter picking, repairing and building
erosion walls, cleaning buildings, painting internal and external
walls, fencing and litter picking. No experience is necessary to join
in. All tools and equipment will be provided but make sure that you
bring suitable footwear and clothing.
Right: Exploring Shell Beach on a
Family Walk to Hilbre, ©
Val Burnett |
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This year there will be 8 events, 4 on
Saturdays and 4 on Sundays. In addition, in September we will have a
family evening for members’ families out on the island. As we stay over
High Tide each time, do remember to bring a packed lunch and water.
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Calling all
Craftsmen and Women
| We have started cleaning
and repairing the Buoy Master’s House, ready to make it available for
community courses and visits. Professional plasterers, plumbers and
joiners will probably be employed by the Council to do the final jobs,
but we and other voluntary groups can do a lot to save costs, and to
speed up the time scale, by doing some of the work ourselves, under
the supervision of the Rangers. Would any qualified crafts people who
are members of the Friends be willing to give some of their time to
help us? All our volunteers are covered by insurance, which we arrange
through the BCTV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers). Your
help will be very welcome, and in a good cause. |
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Right: Volunteers re-pointing small
erosion walls on Hilbre Island, ©
Val Burnett.
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'Inside this issue'.
Mobile Information Unit (MIU)
| Friends of
Hilbre members staff the Wirral Ranger Service mobile information unit
(MIU) on selected dates between March and October at Dee Lane slipway,
West Kirby. Bookings for other events/venues will be arranged
throughout the year. New volunteers are always welcome to join the
team. If you feel unable to help perhaps you would like to visit us at
the MIU? Right: Members
staff the rangers' mobile information unit at Dee Lane, West Kirby
once a month between March and October, ©
Val Burnett. |
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Volunteers need:
• An awareness of the work The Friends of Hilbre are involved in for the
benefit of Hilbre Island.
• An ability to communicate with members of the public with diplomacy.
• A curiosity about other people’s memories of the Hilbre Islands.
• Knowledge about the different aspects of the Hilbre Islands and the Dee
Estuary is useful but not essential, it can be fun learning!
Volunteers can also:
• Arrange the display material that provides information about Hilbre
Islands.
• Take monies for the sale of goods.
• Contribute ideas for suitable sale goods, fundraising activities/events.
Dates for the MIU in 2006 can be found on the
Events page.
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Lookout, Seal Watch and Open Days
On some days about 500 Atlantic Grey Seals haul-out on
the West Hoyle Bank on the Dee Estuary, ©
Richard Smith
Staffing the Telegraph Office Information Centre and seal watch
involves providing information to visitors to the island. We’ll be using
our new telescope to help members of the public get a closer look at our
local seal colony. No previous experience is necessary, as we’ll equip you
with the information you need. 8 events are scheduled, all on Sundays,
over low tide around mid-day. Dates
Dates for Lookout, Seal Watch and Open Days in 2006 can be found on
the Open Days page.
Volunteers for all work must be over 18 years old and members of the
Friends of Hilbre.
If you wish to become a member please contact us via our e-mail address:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com
The
Electric Telegraph Codes which may have been used by
Hilbre Telegraph Station from about 1859
Hilbre Island Telegraph Station, © Val
Burnett.
I had the pleasure to meet two of your volunteers around midday on 14th
August last year at the Telegraph Station. Jokingly I expressed my dismay
at not seeing any old Morse keys and this comment led to quite a pleasant,
friendly and interesting discussion with the two ladies present. I can now
pass on the following promised information:
In 1800 an Italian Physicist, Alessandro Volta invented the first ever
battery; the Voltaic Pile. Up until then all experiments with the Electric
Fluid (electricity) were carried out using Influence Machines, most of
which were driven by hand (by servants of course) and were mostly rich
people's playthings. With the arrival of the Voltaic pile, experimenters
no longer needed to rely on their influence machines, as the Voltaic pile
gave them a continuous supply of electricity for their experiments and in
1820 a Danish Physicist, Hans Christiaan Oersted, discovered that a flow
of the electric fluid along a wire created a magnetic field around itself.
This was followed up by other experimenters and soon electromagnets, of
varying design, efficiency, and degrees of strength, were being
constructed.
An American, Joseph Henry, improved on the basic electromagnet (he made
one which could lift one ton of iron, powered by batteries! The mind
boggles!) and demonstrated in about 1830 a telegraph system over a mile of
copper wire. The messages were passed by strokes on a bell and a simple
code was used for this. Following the success of this demonstration,
several other methods of using the electric telegraph were invented, all
around the World, some of them using up to 70 wires to accommodate all the
required characters! Wheatstone's telegraph 1837 is probably the most well
known of these; it used a set of compass needles pivoted appropriately to
point at the desired letter on a diamond shaped board, when the electric
current was sent through its various electromagnetic coils.
London and Paris were linked by the first submarine telegraph cable in
1854, and 1858 finally saw the successful laying of a cable across the
Atlantic; then New York and San Francisco were linked in 1861. These were
early days and the knowledge of the 'electric fluid' was far from
complete. Many problems were encountered especially with the long
submarine cables where the conducting wires were of necessity very close
to each other and to the Earth. This led to the introduction of various
codes where currents (of equal time) were driven in opposite directions
for some of the transmitted characters. Most of these early systems appear
to have used bells or relays at the receiving end. Following the invention
of the Morse code there was an international agreement for the use of
these bell codes and the new International Bell Code was developed to
correspond with the Morse code. The word HILBRE for instance would be sent
in IBC as:
ding, ding, ding, ding, pause, ding, ding, pause, ding, dong, ding,
ding,
pause, dong, ding, ding, ding, pause, ding, dong, ding, pause, ding.
In Morse: di, di, di, dit, pause di, dit, pause di, dah di, dit,
pause, dah, di, di, dit, pause, di, dah dit, pause, dit. (There is
no difference between the di, and the dit; it simply makes the rhythm
of each letter easier to recognise)
On land however the system worked slightly better, as the wires were
supported away from the Earth and separated on the tops of poles. In 1837
another American, Samuel Morse, invented the Morse code which is still in
use today. Using the Earth as a return conductor, only one wire was needed
for the Morse code system of telegraphy, and although very skilled
operators were required it quickly superseded all of the other different
code systems.
Hilbre’s Telegraph was converted to an electric cable telegraph system in
about 1859, the cable passing under the River Dee, and then eastward to
Hoylake shore, marked by a post still visible near the Keeper’s Slip Way
© Frank Buxton
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Member’s articles are welcome. They may be edited to fit the
available space. Please send your contributions by e-mail to:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com
SAFETY NOTICE
Always check the tides before going
out to Hilbre. Tides change each day. Use the safe route, it is dangerous
to use any other route. For full details of when to cross safely and the
safest route to Hilbre see our
Planning your visit to Hilbre Island page.
PLEASE NOTE: All articles and photographs in this web site are
© COPYRIGHT of Friends of Hilbre unless
specifically otherwise stated.
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© Colin Jones
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