MARPLE'S IRON BRIDGE RESTORATION PROJECT DIARY

In August 2003 the Iron Bridge Restoration Project Group was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £30,100 towards the cost of the first phase of work needed to achieve the restoration of the historic Iron Bridge in Brabyns Park. This page forms a project diary to keep visitors informed of progress since this new phase commenced.

There is also a Campaign Diary, covering the two years prior to this award, which records the events since June 2001, when The Marple Website's campaign to restore the Iron Bridge began. This is split into two pages, one for each year, due to its size.

All the pages are displayed in reverse chronological order, with the latest updates at the top. To read the diaries from the very beginning, go to  to the bottom of the first year and scroll upwards.

To voice your opinion about restoration of the Iron Bridge, please visit the Local Issues section of the forum and noticeboard.

Click here to learn more about the Iron Bridge and the people involved in its construction

Click here to view a video about the Project

Project Diary - Phase 1 (from August 2003)

Campaign Diary - YEAR 2 (July 2002 - July 2003)

Campaign Diary - YEAR 1 (June 2001 to June 2002)

4 April 2006
We're delighted to confirm that the Access Plan has been finalised and a completion report for the Project Planning phase was submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund on Friday 31st March 2006 - the due date. The HLF's have since confirmed their acceptance that the work for which the £30,100 Project Planning grant was awarded in August 2003 has been satisfactorily completed.

Following agreement the the Project Planning phase is complete we will be able to submit a second application for a Heritage Lottery grant towards the cost of the restoration work and also for the access improvements and interpretation that have been identified in the Access Plan. If this is successful we hope to receive a grant for up to 90% of the money needed.

Work on the next application is already underway. The restoration costs have still to be finalised but are expected to remain within the most recent estimate of £250,000. In addition, nearly £100,000 worth of potential access improvements have been identified. As well as physical access improvements in the park, these include interpretation panels and possible audio-visual displays both at the bridge and in the 'Stockport Story' museum.

On the match-funding front, the latest estimate identified that £25,000 would be needed to cover 10% of the restoration costs. The Council has committed to provide half of this, leaving The Marple Website with a balance of £12,500 to raise with the help of the local community. The Council has also agreed to find the match funding needed to cover the access improvements. Support has been such that we are now within touching distance of that community fundraising target of £12,500 and, following the final quiz night at the Ring o' Bells in April and the addition of interest from Marple Local History Society, in whose account the money is held, we should achieve it in the very near future.

We would like to acknowledge and thank the Council and all the local organisations, businesses and individuals who have helped us get this far. It's been a longer journey than we expected, and there's still an awful long way to go. So even though we're now much closer than we were a year ago, we've also learnt the hard way that we can't take anything for granted!

The results of the consultation are now available on-line. Thank you to everyone who took part.

26 March 2006
The tenders have been assessed and a contractor has been nominated to carry out the restoration work, subject to the success of our next application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the necessary funds. We are looking forward to announcing the successful contractor's details here and providing links to their web site but at present we are waiting for the Council to formally notify the unsuccessful tenderers before we can do so.

The Access Plan is now being finalised and the deadline of 31 March for the Completion Report for the current phase is rapidly approaching. We are in the Council's hands regarding this and have been assured that the deadline will be met. The Completion Report to the HLF will include submission of all the reports, drawings and documents produced during the Project Planning phase of the work that has been ongoing since August 2003, when we were awarded the Project Planning grant. The HLF will examine the Completion Report and hopefully agree that we have completed the work for which they gave us the grant. They may have questions or require further information before they do so, and we're not sure how long it will be before completion is confirmed.

We will not be able to submit an application for the restoration phase until the Project Planning phase is confirmed as complete, although we have started work on its preparation and this is the next big task for the Group to achieve.

The Access Plan has revealed a considerable amount of work in addition to that directly associated with the restoration of the bridge. These include more obvious things, like physical access improvements throughout the park, but also interpretation material such as video, audio and a computer generated model for use both on site and remotely to improve intellectual access. Exactly what will be included and how it will be incorporated into the next HLF application is currently being finalised. We'll provide details once this is complete.

The on-line consultation has been a great success with a total of 127 replies. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to this. The results, which were overwhelmingly positive, have been compiled into a report that is included in the Access Plan. The report will be converted to a web-friendly format and added to the site in the near future.

Thanks to quiz nights in February and March bringing in £86.50 and £83 respectively, plus donation of their football prediction winnings from Brian Edwards, Arthur Taylor and Mark, we are now within touching distance of our target of £12,500 community match funding for the next application. The next quiz night in April will be the last one for the Iron Bridge Fund, which now stands as follows:

18 February 2006
The tenders for the Iron Bridge restoration work were formally opened at 4 pm yesterday by Councillor Sue Derbyshire in the presence of a number of SMBC officers. Mark was also there representing The Marple Website and Marple Local History Society. It's too early to provide any further details at this stage, suffice to say that there were no great shocks or surprises. The tender submissions will be assessed on both quality and price during the next week or two and we will update the diary with more information when the necessary processes have been completed.

We are also delighted to announce that Listed Building Consent has been granted for the restoration scheme detailed design. 

28 January 2006
We met with SMBC yesterday to catch up with how things are going and to review the draft Access Plan. It was confirmed that the tenders were issued on schedule and they are due for return by the potential contractors on Friday 17th February. The tenders will be formally opened by Councillor Sue Derbyshire and we have been invited to attend the ceremony at the Council's offices.

We've had a great response to our on-line consultation - with 50 replies so far - but we are hoping for more before we begin to analyse them in detail and prepare a report of the results that can be included in the Lottery application for the next phase. So if you haven't done so already, please show your support by completing the on-line consultation form.

Fundraising has continued to make good progress. We've recently received a pledge for the fantastic sum of £750 from Marple Business Forum. We've also received a cheque for £100 from the Rotary Club of New Mills, Marple and District, which is their second contribution to the project. We're extremely grateful to both of these local organisations for their generosity and support. In addition, the last two Quiz Nights in December and January at the Ring o' Bells collected £108.60 and £90 respectively, taking the total from this source to over £3,700. The Iron Bridge Fund now stands as follows:

27 December 2005
Work is due to commence on the compilation of the Access Plan in the New Year. In support of this we've set up a new on-line consultation form and we hope that visitors to the site will show their support for the project by filling this in and giving us their comments.

Click here to access the consultation form

The tenders for the restoration work were due to be issued on Thursday 23rd December. We await confirmation from SMBC that this has happened and to receive our copies of the documents.

On the fund raising front, we are now pleased to be able to announce that the sales of our 2006 Marple and Mellor Calendar have realised a profit of £1,200, which we will donate towards the match-funding for the restoration phase. Other new contributions to this since 8th December include £23.96 worth of donations from the public and £12 commission on Gordon Mills' DVDs & Videos sales while we were in the Co-Op selling our calendars. Kevin Gerrard of Turner & Townsend has also donated his £34 Football Predictions prize and John Hulme of Marple Wine Club has donated £10 instead of sending his friends and family Christmas cards. We are very grateful to everyone for their continued support. The Iron Bridge Fund now stands as follows:

8 December 2005
Fund-raising continues to go well with a second donation of £500 from the McNair Trust, who also gave us £500 towards the first phase of match-funding. The quiz at the Ring o' Bells on 30 November raised £93 and we had a donation of £1.68 in copper given to us while we were at the Winter Wonderland last weekend, when we earned £6 commission on Gordon Mills' DVDs. The sale of our calendar is going well and we're in the Co-Op tomorrow and Saturday. We look forward to being able to announce the profits on the calendar that can be added to the money below. At present the Iron Bridge Fund stands as follows:

27 November 2005
The last month has been a very good period for fundraising. We applied to Marple Area Committee for a contribution towards the match-funding for the next phase and this was considered by the committee at their November meeting. We were pleased to receive a donation of £1,000 from their Area Flexibility Budget and would like to thank the Area Committee for their continued support of the project. We were also delighted to be contacted by the Jubilee Amateur Dramatic Society, based in Marple Bridge, who asked if we could put on a display about the bridge during a recent 3-day production. We lent them our presentation boards and were taken aback when they were returned with a cheque for a superb £400! In addition to these significant contributions, our E-bay Sale of postcards has so far raised £26.99, a further £10 from the Football Prediction prizes has been donated by Arthur Taylor and Marple Wine Club continues to provide a steady trickle of commission. Last but not least, following a contact via the Internet as a result of our articles about Samuel Oldknow and Mellor Mill, we received a donation of £20 in exchange for a copy of an etching of Mellor Mill from a gentleman who owns the original oil painting on which the etching is based!
At present the Iron Bridge Fund stands as follows:

It's fortunate that fund-raising is going so well, as recent estimates suggest that a total of £250,000 may be required to pay for the restoration of the bridge. This is considered to be an upper limit but of course it will not be confirmed until we receive tenders for the work early next year. So, until we know better, we are now using this figure as the basis for our calculations of how much money still needs to raised.

If £250,000 proves to be correct and we were able to make a second successful grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund, we would receive a maximum of 90% of the total cost. This would be £225,000, leaving us with 10%, or £25,000, to find from other sources. Stockport Council have recently undertaken to provide at least 5% of the total cost, which is a condition in the HLF grant application requirements, and this would amount to £12,500 based on our upper estimate. This gives us a target of another £12,500 to make up the balance. In view of the £9,230 already raised, this is an amount that we feel we can realistically achieve if we continue to receive the excellent support of the local community that we've experienced to date. So if you can help us by contributing towards the sum of approximately £3,300 that we still need to raise, please get in touch.

On other fronts - the Engineering is continuing to progress through the detail design stage. On 11th November we attended a meeting with SMBC to review the draft detail drawings and it is hoped that these will be ready for tenders to be issued to potential contractors before Christmas. In addition, a planning application and a submission for Listed Building Consent (required because the bridge is Grade II listed) was made at the beginning of October. We expect to learn the results of these early in the New Year.

An added bonus from our recent meeting with SMBC was the appearance of some more photographs taken in 1992 during the installation of the Bailey Bridge. These were found in the engineering records and they're shown below - but we're looking forward to taking photographs of it being removed!

07 November 2005
Ian Brocklebank and Chris Murphy of Turner & Townsend have donated their Football Predictions winnings of £30 and £33.50 respectively, thank you both! In addition, Mark has added a smaller Footy prize of £11.30 and the October Quiz at the Ring o' Bells raised another £98.50. At present the Iron Bridge Fund stands as follows:

27 September 2005
With the way forward now clear we need to kick-start our fund-raising in earnest to get sufficient match funding in place to support our application. Until we have prices back from tender we have to base our targets on the estimates prepared by the Consultant Engineer. These suggest that the restoration will cost in the region of £175,000, including £25,000 for the relocation of the gas main. Based on this, and the assumption that we can put together a successful HLF bid for 90% of the costs, we need match funding of around £17,500.

To date we've raised close to £11,000, with £3,400 having been spent already on the Project Planning phase. This leaves us with a current balance of nearly £7,600, so, in round numbers, we need to raise another £10,000. Anyone with any ideas how to help us do this, please get in touch. At present the Iron Bridge Fund stands as follows:

23 September 2005
In order to kick off the detail design a further survey of the bridge was carried out to ascertain detailed dimensions and examine closely the areas where additional strengthening will be connected to the existing structure. Peter was there to capture the action:

16 September 2005
Following a period of drawing revisions and reviews, prolonged by the holiday season, the new scheme was finalised and a revised 'Approval in Principle' document was developed. This was approved by the Group at a meeting on Friday 16th September and it was agreed that the detail design should proceed based on the new "Hollow Box-Section" scheme.

Following completion of the detail design we will be able to go out to tender to obtain firm prices for the restoration phase, which will provide the basis for us to make another application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for up to 90% of the money required. In parallel with the detailed design we will make an application for Listed Building Consent to seek formal approval of our proposals from English Heritage. This is essential because the bridge is a listed structure.

It was thought that, as part of the planning application process, the scheme is likely to be called before the Marple Area Committee for review. In anticipation of this it was agreed that it would be advantageous to hold a public consultation with local people to show those who are interested the solutions proposed for the bridge's restoration, and to give them an opportunity to make comments and suggestions. This was provisionally arranged for 17th and 18th October in Marple Library.

22 July 2005
We met with the Council to review the options available to us now that the exact location of the gas main has been identified. Scott Wilson, the Consultant Engineer had produced several drawings showing different options. By far the most interesting to everyone was a new scheme utilising a hollow steel box-section to house the gas main beneath the new parapet posts at the side of the bridge. It was agreed that this design should be developed further with a view to reducing the top rail of the new parapets as far below the stone domes as possible, as required by English Heritage, whilst maintaining a handrail height of 1400mm above the finished surface level to meet the legal requirement for mounted cyclists, as required by the Council.

This scheme involves rerouting of the gas main into the hollow box-section. This has become financially viable because after Transco re-looked at their estimate in more detail they reduced it back down from £80,000 to close on £25,000 again.

19 July 2005
First of all, the notice board at the bridge has been repaired for us by Capricorn Engraving and refitted. The repairs cost £35 and have been paid for by Marple Promotions to avoid eating into any of the match funding for the next stage.

The Council managed to find a contractor that could carry out digging of the trial pits to investigate the position of the gas pipe without the need for closing the bridge and the work has now been done. The pictures below show the gas pipe at the 3 locations of the trial pits, which were in the centre and at either side near the stone domes. We will be meeting with the Council on Friday 22 July to discuss the options for resolving the gas main issues now that its exact location has been established. 

By coincidence, we met an old Marple gentleman called Ron Booth when we were taking our own measurements in the trial pits. Ron has been taking photographs around Marple for many years and told us that he had taken a slide of the bridge when the gas pipe was installed, during the late-eighties, before the Bailey Bridge was erected. Ron's picture also revealed that the wooden decking was obviously replaced at the same time.

The gas main being installed during the late eighties

Funds towards the next phase of the restoration have continued to grow, thanks to a variety of sources. The Ring o' Bells Quiz nights in June and July raised £67.50 and £100 respectively; Alan Proctor, of Hawk Green Residents' Association has collected £15 for us; our sales of Gordon Mills' videos and DVDs have raised a further £23.94 in commission and another £7 in commission from Marple Wine Club has been received too. In addition, artist Gina Hargreaves has donated a large batch of two different Marple prints for us to sell to raise money. We sold four at £1 each at the Canal Festival and hope to sell many more in the coming months.

Finally, for now, all Marple Promotions' profits from the Marple and Mellor 2006 calendar now on sale will be donated to the fund - we will not know how much this is until after Christmas, when we know how many have been sold, but hope it will be in the region of £1,000.

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

28 May 2005
Great news on the Community Raised Funding front is that we've now broken through the £10,000 barrier for total money raised towards the bridge's restoration. Another win on the football predictions competition and the Ring o' Bells quiz in May ensured that this fantastic milestone was achieved.

In addition, we've just received some more good news that we've been waiting for - the Taxman has sent us a cheque for nearly £378! This is the Gift Aid on the money raised by the Sponsored Walk last year and takes the total from the walk to over £3,000. This is three times our original target, which is particularly pleasing.

So a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored us and you tax payers who ticked the Gift Aid box!

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

Included in the above:

14 May 2005
As we wrote in the diary below, at the beginning of March this year we believed we were very close to agreeing a final scheme for the bridge's restoration. We thought we were just waiting for the Approval in Principle document to be finalised and approved so that the detail design could commence. We wrote a positive article for the Marple Carnival programme and were looking forward to making some real headway this year.

Once again, after taking one step forward, we've found ourselves unexpectedly taking at least two back.

When we wrote the article for the Carnival programme we had been given a budget price of £25,000 to relocate the 6" gas main running across the bridge - from above the wooden deck to below it. Following further liaison between Scott Wilson, the consultant engineers, and Transco we have now been given a new budget price of £80,000 for the same work. We've also been told that the pipe will be clearly visible below the arched ribs when the bridge is viewed from the side, rather than tucked up close to the underside and out of sight. This is likely to interfere with the additional bracing planned, requiring it to be redesigned, and will spoil the aesthetic appearance of the bridge.

On 5th May a group meeting was attended by SMBC's engineers, the Project Coordinator from Parks & Recreation, Marple Local History Society and ourselves to review the situation. It was agreed that a meeting with Transco would be beneficial and this was subsequently arranged.

The meeting with a representative of Transco was held on Wednesday 11th May. It was also attended by SMBC's engineers, Scott Wilson, the Project Coordinator, the Conservation Officer and ourselves. The Transco representative was helpful and sympathetic to our problems but explained that the gas main is the only supply to the whole of Compstall and it would therefore not be possible to isolate it to carry out the work. This would mean that if the pipe is to be rerouted it will have to be done while the main is live. It is the 'live' connections that add substantially to the cost of the work.

A number of rerouting options were discussed and Transco agreed to provide more detailed estimates for these. It was also confirmed that there was a possibility that the gas main may not have to be rerouted. This would depend on accurate knowledge of the position of the pipe in relation to the deck of the bridge, so that it could be established if sufficient cover could be provided by the reduced level of 'fill' necessary to achieve the handrail heights desired by SMBC (see 8 December 2004). The work done on 16th December 2004 to reveal the pipe on either side of the bridge did not provide information of sufficient accuracy over the area of the bridge's decking to be sure of achieving this solution.

Transco were unable to provide accurate details of the pipe's location and were unwilling to undertake investigative work due to the Bailey Bridge over the top of the pipe. The problem was discussed at length and it was decided that SMBC would have to arrange for the necessary investigative work to be carried out. This will involve digging several trenches across the width of the bridge (under the bailey bridge) in order to determine exactly where the pipe is lying in relation to the wooden deck. Unfortunately the presence of the bailey bridge makes this a difficult task and it will be necessary to close the bridge to the public whilst it is done. This will require a statutory closure notice, which includes a notice period of 8 weeks, so once again we are seeing time slip frustratingly away from us.

In addition to the technical problems described above there has been a fair amount of extra work carried out by Scott Wilson in trying to deal with them and, whilst they continue to be extremely cooperative and helpful and have done some work free of charge, they have made a claim for additional payment. There will also be more extra work required before these problems are resolved and we reach a stage where the Approval in Principle document can be revised and approved and the detailed design gotten underway. SMBC are investigating how to fund this extra work in order to try and avoid eroding the funds that we have raised towards the restoration phase of the project. 

We'll continue to battle on and hope that we can retain the support of the local community - many of whom must be wondering what on earth is going on and why we've made so little visible progress. Incidentally, the notice board at the bridge has been vandalised and is currently back with Capricorn Engraving for repairs. We hope to put it back soon.

As usual, news on the fundraising front is better. Quizzes at the Ring o' Bells in March and April raised £138.50 and £63 respectively and we've had even more commission on Internet wine sales from Marple Wine Club. Paul Hartley, Stockport's Conservation Officer, has donated the fee for his recent presentation to the Mellor Society and Marple Local History Society have allocated £40 of the interest received on their account to the bridge. We even have more winnings in the football results prediction competition! 

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

Finally for now, we've been delighted to receive via Marple Local History Society a series of slides of the Iron Bridge and also a couple showing the Scroll Bridge taken in the 1970s. A few of these are show below and the rest will soon be added to the "Virtual Tour of Marple".

26 February 2005
On the progress front, we are still waiting for the Council to finalise the Approval in Principle document with Scott Wilson and to learn when the detailed design will commence and how long it will take. We have been requesting a progress meeting with SMBC for a fortnight and are hopeful that this will now take place within the next week.

Fundraising has continued to go well and those of you who followed the e-bay auction will know that the sale of the lathe realised £102. There was a great deal of interest in it and the page was visited nearly 1000 times! The February quiz at the Ring o' Bells was quieter than they've been for a good while - probably due to the awful weather and Champions League football - but still managed to raise a further £73. Other money coming in has included the prize from a football results prediction competition and more commission on Internet wine sales from Marple Wine Club.

The claim for repayment of tax on the Gift-Aided sponsorship for the walk has been submitted and we must now wait for the Inland Revenue to process it before we learn if it has been successful.

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

30 January 2005
Another successful quiz at the Ring o' Bells has inflated the Community Raised Funding by £82 and, after being convinced there was no more to come in, we found £70 extra sponsorship money for the walk!

Marple Local History Society have applied for registration with the Inland Revenue in order to claim back the tax you paid on the money that was donated by Gift Aid and we calculate that this may amount to more than £370. We won't count that chicken 'til it's hatched, but it would be fantastic if we can get that much because it would take the total raised by the sponsored walk to over £3,000.

The e-bay auction is getting quite exciting as it has been visited over 600 times and it's being watched by 30 people, some of whom have been asking questions. We're hoping for a big flurry in bidding towards the end - if not the person who has matched the £50 reserve already is going to get a real bargain on Tuesday night!

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* Only includes sponsorship received, see below

23 January 2005
We're always looking for new ways to raise money for the bridge and we are currently auctioning on e-bay an excellent wood turning lathe that was given to us. If this is successful we'll try to use e-bay more often to contribute to our fund-raising efforts. Please click the e-bay logo to see the lathe.

The status of the funding situation is that the repair and strengthening of the bridge is still expected to cost in the region of £150,000. This remains a provisional estimate that will be firmed up once the detail design is complete and the work has been put out to tender. In addition to this it is expected to cost at least £25,000 to re-route the gas main running across the bridge. This is also a provisional estimate and may change when the work is examined in more detail by Transco.

So, based on these figures, upwards of £175,000 is needed to complete the bridge's restoration. If we are able to make a second successful bid for Heritage Lottery Funding we could receive an award of up to 90% of the total cost. The remaining 10% - or £17,500 - would need to be raised in match funding. This does not need to be all cash, as it can include volunteer labour and other contributions like the offer of free paint from E. Wood Ltd. and the professional services offered by Myers Treecare Ltd.

As shown below, we have currently raised nearly £9,300 in total, £3,400 of which is already committed to the current phase of work. This leaves us with a balance approaching £5,900 and means that we would need to raise in the region of £11,600 more, in cash or in kind. At present we do not have a firm value for the paint or the tree surgery work. When we do, the balance we need to find can be reduced accordingly. It is likely that the opportunities to use volunteer labour will be limited, due to the specialist nature of most of the work, however, this is another area that we will also need to explore.

So if you would like to make a donation, or think you can help us in any other way, please get in touch using ironbridge@marple-uk.com or by phone to Peter (0161 427 1861) or Mark (0161 427 4955).

Regarding progress on the solution for restoring the bridge - we have now received, via SMBC, the Approval in Principle Document from Scott Wilson, the consultant engineers. We have returned our comments on this to the Council, who will no doubt have their own comments too, and they will ultimately have to approve it before the detail design can proceed. We hope this will not take too long and that we will be able to publish the 'AIP' and drawings of the scheme on-line for our visitors to view once they are approved.

30 December 2004
On Thursday 16th December the first physical activity for some considerable time took place at the bridge. In order to begin finalising the Approval In Principle Document the Engineers needed to be more certain of the location of the gas main that runs across the bridge. The pipe is buried within the 18" or so of 'fill' above the wooden decking but nobody was sure exactly where, or even what size it is. As the pictures below show, the 6" diameter pipe was found to run almost exactly through the centre of the bridge and is virtually resting on top of the wooden deck. Both of these things are good - if it's in the centre it means that it will not interfere with the fixing of the secondary parapets at either side, and - if it's resting on the decking it may be possible to cover it with a reduced depth of 'fill' rather than have to relocate it. However, at this stage the best solution remains to be determined by the Engineers.

Fund-raising has continued steadily over the last few weeks, with two further quizzes at the Ring o' Bells bringing in £193.55. A third quiz was due to benefit the bridge last night but in view of those terrible scenes we've all been witnessing on our TV's during the last few days we decided to forgo our monthly slot in favour of the victims of the South Asian Tsunami Disaster. We were pleased that the quiz raised £220.50 for this cause, including the £100 prize donated by the winner of the Higher & Lower Game. Other fund-raising in the period has included more commission on sales of Gordon Mills' videos and Ann Hearle's Marple & Mellor book, donations from members of the local community and yet more sponsorship from the walk back in May. This has continued to trickle in but surely that must be the last of it now!

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* Only includes sponsorship received, see below

08 December 2004
On 21 October Stockport Council held an internal meeting to discuss the options for restoration of the Iron Bridge and to determine their position regarding the way forward, in particular with regard to the height of the secondary parapet rails that will be placed inside the old ones. This was necessary due to conflict between the requirements of modern regulations and the desire to minimise the impact on the aesthetic appearance of the bridge. There were wide ranging views on this topic from within different sections of the Council and there was a great deal of debate. The situation was complicated by proposals for a new SEMMMS Trail that will extend from the end of the Middlewood Way, at Rose Hill, to Etherow Park in Compstall. This will pass through Brabyns Park and cross the River Goyt over the Iron Bridge.

We were not invited to this meeting so we sent a letter to the Council expressing our views. The conclusion of the meeting was that the advice of English Heritage should be sought over the issues surrounding parapet heights, as any work carried out on the bridge will be subject to Listed Building Consent.

A further meeting was held with English Heritage on 18 November. This was attended by all parties of the Iron Bridge Restoration Project Group, including SMBC's Conservation Officer and Engineers, Parks & Recreation, Marple Local History Society and ourselves. Scott Wilson, the Consultant Engineers, were also in attendance and they had already held advanced discussions with English Heritage on the solutions proposed.

The meeting was successful as clear direction was given by English Heritage on what was likely to receive Listed Building Consent and what would not. The issues surrounding parapet heights were resolved by English Heritage's guidance that they must not exceed the height of the existing stone domes at each end of the bridge, rather than be a set height in relation to the walking surface. This is not yet fixed as the final depth of "fill" above the wooden decking has yet to be determined. The existing "fill", comprising of soil, gravel and leaf mold, is approximately 450mm deep but it is hoped to be able to reduce this to as little as 200mm by the use of alternative materials.

One problem relating to this which is not yet solved, is exactly how to deal with a gas main that runs across the bridge. This is currently buried within the "fill" on top of the wooden decking. Discussions are ongoing between Scott Wilson and Transco to find an acceptable solution.

Most other less contentious issues were resolved and we now appear to have a scheme for strengthening of the bridge and for additional parapets that everyone will find acceptable and can be taken forward to detailed design. Before this can be done the proposals need to be ratified by SMBC's higher management and elected representatives, which we hope will be achieved in the near future. 

Once this is done, and subject to resolving the gas main problem, Scott Wilson will be able to prepare an "Approval in Principle" document, which will describe exactly how the detailed design will be carried out. This will be reviewed by the Council and ourselves and then approved so that the detailed design can commence, hopefully early in the New Year. 

09 October 2004
You may have been thinking that it's been a long while since the diary was updated, and you'd be right. It's been a busy summer for fundraising and publicity, but it's been a long time since we've been able to publish any news regarding progress on the scheme to restore the bridge. As we last reported, way back in April, we expected to have agreed the selection of the option that would go forward as part of the application for funding of the next phase to the Heritage Lottery Fund before we set off on our sponsored walk in May.

Unfortunately, debate of the engineering solutions and conservation objectives to determine the best way to restore the bridge has continued throughout the summer months without a final conclusion being reached. We've been to a number of meetings with Stockport Council, the Engineers and other interested parties, including English Heritage, at which we expected final agreement of the best option to be reached. However, for various reasons this has not yet been possible and the options have had to continue being developed further. It's easy to view these delays as negative, and they have certainly been frustrating for us, but it is important that all avenues are fully explored and the correct decisions made before we commit to a single option. We will only get one chance to do it right after all! 

We've been reluctant to publish information on the web site whilst things have seemed so uncertain and we did not want to mislead, or have to contradict ourselves when things have not gone as we'd expected, which has happened quite often. We are still uncertain now how close to a solution we are but feel we have reached a point where we must publish some news.

Presently we are waiting to learn the date of the next meeting, which is currently being arranged to review the findings of the additional optioneering work that has been carried out recently. We are hopeful, but not confident, that this time a conclusion can be reached and the way forward agreed. We will tell you when that meeting has taken place and explain the outcome once we know it.

News on the fundraising front is more positive. We've received another £100 from Marple Carnival Committee, taking their total contribution to £450 over the last 3 years. Three more Ring o' Bells quiz nights have raised a further £281, which takes the total raised there to a fantastic £2323.60 to date. This is not far short of our current biggest fund raiser - the sponsored walk - which is now just about all collected. We should also be able to boost this further by claiming back the tax through the Gift Aid scheme. In addition we've received another personal donation and a bit more commission on Gordon Mills' video and Ann Hearle's book. Finally, a new source of funds is the Marple Wine Club, run by local man John Hulme. We've agreed with John that commission on sales through the Marple Website will be donated to the Iron Bridge. Sales have been modest at the moment, but every little counts!   

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* Only includes sponsorship received, see below

24 July 2004
The TV programme on the Community Channel is still running at the moment and you have another week or so to catch it being broadcast at the times detailed below. The programme is very interesting and our Northwest region is well represented with features on Stockport's Plaza and Hayfield's Sheep Wash, as well as Marple's Iron Bridge. The forth project is about a man called Steve Hunt who is not just investing time but also substantial amounts of his own money to achieve his dream of restoring Colwyn Bay's Victoria Pier.

The Community Channel has kindly given us permission to use the part of the TV programme featuring the Iron Bridge on the web site, so you can now watch it in your own time as often as you wish! Click here to view our part of the programme.

8 July 2004
As mentioned earlier, during two days last month we were filmed at the Iron Bridge, and at the Ring o' Bells quiz night on 16th June, by the Community Channel for a TV programme that ties in with the new BBC series, 'Restoration'. The purpose of the programme is to show what is happening in several community led projects around the country and to encourage other people to get involved to try and save their own heritage. Our Iron Bridge Restoration Project diary was discovered on the Internet by CC's researchers and, after an initial visit from the show's producer Coumba Fergusson, we were selected as one of four projects to be featured in the half-hour programme, which is called 'Restoration: You make it happen'

A number of local volunteers were filmed, as well as Peter and me, and hopefully it will be interesting and gain some good publicity for the Iron Bridge's restoration.

The Community Channel is broadcast 24 hours a day on Sky Digital (Channel 585) and Telewest (Channel 233) and on NTL (Channel 14) between 10 am and 4 pm each day. The programme itself will be shown every day for a week, commencing on Monday 12th July, at the following times:

07.30 a.m.
01.30 p.m.
03.30 p.m.
08.30 p.m.
10.30 p.m.

The Community Channel have provided the following Real Player video trailer for the programme - unfortunately we don't feature on it but it does give a feel for what it's all about. There are two versions, one for Broadband customers and the other for any flat-earthers who're still using a modem!

If you'd like to comment on the programme after seeing it, you can do so here.

7 July 2004
Another busy period has seen the restoration fund continue to grow steadily. Last night's fun quiz at the Ring o' Bells raised an excellent £100 and an author producing a book about changes around the M60 has donated £25 for the use of several photographs of Marple Hall from our Virtual Tour Gallery. As many of you will know we recently attended the Carnival, All Saints' Summer Fair and the Canal Festival. The profits / commission on sales of Gordon Mill's Changing Face of Marple Video and Ann Hearle's Marple & Mellor book have been donated to the fund. In addition several people made individual donations, including one from All Saints' PTA.

Our sponsored walk money has continued to keep coming in and the grand total raised now stands at £2538.74, with just a few more pounds to collect. One one the next tasks is to claim back the tax from the Inland Revenue on those contributions where people who sponsored us ticked the Gift Aid box!

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* Only includes sponsorship received, see below

16 June 2004
Today we were filmed at the Iron Bridge by a TV crew from the Community Channel for a programme they are making about local community heritage projects. We were also filmed at the Ring o' Bell in the evening during one of our fun quiz nights, which raised £79.55 towards the restoration fund. We'll include more information about the TV programme once available.

10 June 2004
The majority of the money for the sponsored walk has now been received, however, we still know of a couple of people who've been collecting on our behalf and haven't yet passed the money on. There are also still a few stragglers on our own sponsor sheets that we'll catch up with eventually. We've certainly crashed through that £2,000 barrier and are now quietly hopeful that we may reach £2,500!

Worthy of special mention are local artist Malcolm Melia, who has collected over £100 on our behalf, and Darryl Reardon from New Zealand who has given us a personal cheque for £90 - no worries mate!

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* Only includes sponsorship received, see below

29 May 2004
Sponsorship money is still coming in from a variety of sources and the people who told us that collecting it could be a harder task than the walk itself certainly had a point! We've now received the bulk of it and although we've not quite broke through that £2,000 barrier yet, we're sure that we will. It's become impossible to keep totting up the money pledged but still to be collected as the sponsor sheets are out with so many different people, so our latest figures below now only cover the money actually received.

While we were away the Ring o' Bells quiz on Wednesday 12th May was presented by Andy Glossop, of AMG Video Productions, who also lent us the motor home for our trip. Andy has been extremely helpful to us and did a sterling job at the Ringers by collecting a further £71.50.

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* Only includes sponsorship received, see below

13 May 2004
As those of you who've been following the daily updates will know, we successfully completed the sponsored walk on Thursday 13th May, arriving at the Iron Bridge in Shropshire at around 3.00 pm. If you didn't follow the daily updates you can catch up with the details of our journey in a blow by blow account by clicking the photograph below:

The job's done!

2 May 2004
We've had a great response about our '90 Mile Stroll' from customers of the Marple Co-Op, who, over the last two Saturdays, have sponsored us for a total of £506.54. Local people were extremely supportive and very interested in the progress of the project. This was most encouraging and helps to combat those rare occasions when one wonders whether all the effort is worth it! One couple in particular, well into their eighties and the lady being pushed in a wheelchair by her husband, were incredibly enthusiastic. They explained that they had fond memories of the bridge from their courting days, when they spent much time together there, and had come to the Co-Op because they had read about the sponsored walk in the newspaper and wanted to make a contribution - I felt good all day! Many thanks to everyone who sponsored us and to the Co-Op for making it possible.

Our other efforts to collect sponsorship have been successful too. Initially we thought £1,000 might be an achievable target but we've been delighted by the level of support received whenever we've asked and we now look set to break the £2,000 barrier. Unfortunately we don't have room to mention everyone who has sponsored us individually, but some notable contributions have come from the following sources:

To all of the above, and everyone who has sponsored us so far, we're extremely grateful. At this stage we've no idea how many people have downloaded the on-line forms and are collecting sponsorship on our behalf, although we do know that they are doing the rounds at Marple Fire Station and Stockport Council's Offices. We're looking forward to learning how these have done in the near future. In the meantime, the Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* Only includes sponsorship received, see below

14 April 2004
Our regular quiz at the Ring o' Bells raised a further £69 towards the restoration fund and we also collected £55 in sponsorship for the walk. Arrangements have been made for us to collect sponsorship at the Co-Op in Marple on Saturday 24th April and Saturday 1st May, which we hope will give the fund a substantial boost.

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* Only includes sponsorship received, see below

11 April 2004
We announced details of our sponsored walk from Iron Bridge to Iron Bridge and appealed for help in raising money from visitors to the site. We are due to leave the Iron Bridge in Brabyns Park at 10.00 am on Saturday 8th May and the '90 mile stroll' is expected to take between six and seven days. For more details of how you can help, please click here.

8 April 2004
We had a productive Group meeting at which we discussed the various options for restoration. Good progress was made towards agreeing the preferred option and this will be discussed further, and hopefully finalised, at a meeting on 22nd April.

24 March 2004
We apologise for having not updated the site with any progress for a while. This was partly due to preparations for the Local History presentation on the 15th but also because things have not been going quite as smoothly as we were expecting recently. The report we received on 23 February, and was subsequently updated on 26 February and 6 March, identified a need for significantly more bracing than we were anticipating following the meeting on 23 January. This has lead to protracted debate about the conclusions of the report and the options for restoration that it presented.

After what has been a difficult period we now seem to be making progress again and a further revision to the report is currently awaited. At present we are also waiting for feedback from English Heritage on the initial report issued to them. Their views on the new one will also be essential to us before an option for restoration can be selected. While all of this is going on it would be premature for us to publish any further detail but we will do so as soon as current activities reach a satisfactory conclusion.

17 March 2004
The St. Patrick's Night Quiz at the Ring o' Bells raised £71 towards the restoration fund. The Ring o' Bells Quizzes are now the single biggest contributor to the community raised funding with a total sum of  £1722.55 so far. The arrangements for the camper van for our sponsored walk were also confirmed, which is fantastic news! Our thanks go to Andy Glossop of AMG Videos, a member of regular quiz team 'Splodginess Abounds!' for his generous offer to help in this way.

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

* only includes sponsorship received, not pledged

15 March 2004
We gave a PowerPoint presentation to Marple Local History Society explaining the history of Brabyns Park, the life of Nathaniel Wright, the history of the Salford Iron Works and how they all became linked together, leading to construction of the iron bridge in 1813. The presentation was based on the The Brief History of the Park, the Iron Bridge and the People Involved in its Construction, which is already on-line here on the web site.

The presentation, which was very well received, also explained how the Campaign for restoration began in 2001 and gradually gathered public support, culminating in the award of the HLF Project Planning grant last year. Obviously you can read the full story in detail right here!

The standard £25 fee paid by the History Society will go into the restoration fund pot and we also collected £85 in sponsorship for our walk, plus several more pledges of donations.

The time it took to put the presentation together is part of the reason why the website has not been updated quite as regularly as normal recently!

19 February 2004
The Fun Quiz at the Ring o' Bells raised £86 towards the restoration fund. We also received a promising offer of a camper van to use as a base for our walk in May.

5 February 2004  
Has anybody out there got one of these that they would be prepared to let us borrow? It doesn't have to be this big to be honest, although that would be nice - it will just need to sleep 3 to 4 people comfortably and either a caravan or campervan would do the job.

As mention briefly before in the diary, Peter and I are planning a sponsored walk between the Iron Bridge in Brabyns Park and the famous Iron Bridge in Shropshire, to raise money towards the next phase of funding that will be needed to restore Marple's Iron Bridge.

The walk is scheduled to start on Saturday 8th May and we expect it to take 5 days or so to complete the 90 mile trip, virtually all of which will be by canal towpath. We already have the services of an experienced driver, we just need a vehicle that can be used as a base each night at various locations on route. We would obviously ensure that it was fully insured for the period of the trip.

If you are able to help with this please get in touch with Peter on 0161 427 1861. Please also get in touch if you are interested in sponsoring this this event in any other way - Any commercial organisations prepared to contribute can be assured that we will do our utmost to publicise your generosity.

23 January 2004  
We attended the Review meeting with SMBC's Officers and Scott Wilson's Steve Black. As reported earlier, the meeting was delayed from the planned date of 9 January because it was found necessary for the inspection engineers to return to the bridge for a second visit to gather additional information. This impacted on the completion of Scott Wilson's assessment, which unfortunately was also not as advanced as we expected it to be for the meeting today. This was very disappointing because it means that we still do not have a report with clearly defined and costed options. Issue of the report is now promised for 23 February and we hope that there will not be any further delays.

News on the technical side is better, although provisional at this stage because the assessment is not complete. There are different levels of loading that the bridge could be expected to withstand, each requiring different amounts of strengthening. We have been advised that the requirements for vehicular access would be quite considerable, including carbon fibre strengthening, for loads up to 7.5t, or new beams to replace the central girder for loads in excess of 7.5t. The strengthening required for pedestrian loading, which includes horses, appears to be significantly less, involving additional vertical cross bracing only. It was agreed by everyone at the meeting that the bridge should not be expected to carry any form of vehicular loading and that options should be developed on the basis of pedestrian and horse traffic only.

As well as the additional bracing expected to be confirmed in the completed report, several other repairs will be necessary. These include replacement of some of the bolted connections, handrail repairs, blasting and repainting of the ironwork, replacement of the timber decking and pointing of the stonework. 

The report has to be approved by SMBC's Engineers before a single option is chosen to be developed into a detailed scheme. English Heritage will also have to be consulted before things progress too far.

That's all we can tell you at the moment, until after our next meeting on 27 February, by which time the report should have been received from Scott Wilson and had at least an initial review by SMBC's Engineers.

21 January 2004  
There was a very good turnout for our quiz night at the Ring o' Bells and a further £91.82 was raised. We were particularly pleased to welcome Tree Surgeon Dave Myers and his wife to the quiz. Dave has supported our campaign since the very early days, when he offered his professional services for free. We're looking forward to the day when we can take him up on this excellent offer.

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

10 January 2004  
We learnt earlier this week that there have been delays to the assessment being carried out by Scott Wilson because a second inspection of the bridge was necessary to gather additional information and clarify some anomalies from the first visit. The Review Meeting has therefore had to be rescheduled for 23 January 2004. This has been disappointing, but it's important that the assessment is done properly and not compromised. Look out for more news following the review.

3 January 2004  
The Fun Quiz at the Ring o' Bells just before Christmas raised £68.50 towards the Iron Bridge Fund. The pot has also been boosted by a 'Crisp Tenner' from Marple Community Council for our winning entry to the Marple Quiz featured on their web site during November and December last year.

At the end of this week the Group has a review meeting with Scott Wilson to learn the initial findings of their inspection and assessment of the bridge. We hope to be able to report the latest news here soon after.

Peter and I did our first serious training for our sponsored walk - from Iron Bridge to Iron Bridge - this week, with a 16 mile hike from Bosley Locks to Marple's Top Lock. This was the first leg, in reverse, of the 90 mile walk planned for May and proved that I need to get some serious mileage under my belt before the real thing if I'm going to survive it! As a regular dog walker, Peter fared much better. We are starting to look for ways to sponsor this now and if you think you can help, please get in touch.

The Iron Bridge Fund currently stands as follows:

26 November 2003  
Scott Wilson arranged for Engineers Sergio Ledo and Matt Harrington from REDS - Reach Engineering & Diving Services Ltd - to carry out a tactile inspection of the bridge and Peter was able to get some photographs of them in action abseiling under the bridge.

REDS' survey will provide essential detailed information to Scott Wilson for them to use during their calculations of the bridge's strength and for their assessment of the options available for repair work. Obviously we'll have to wait for Scott Wilson to carry out their assessments before we have definitive conclusions, however, we can advise that nothing of a serious nature was found during the tactile inspection. For more information about REDS visit their web site at www.red-services.co.uk

This evening's quiz at the Ring o' Bells raised £70 towards the Iron Bridge Fund:

17 November 2003  
Paul Hartley, Stockport Council's Conservation Officer, and a member of the Iron Bridge Restoration Project Group, gave a most enjoyable presentation to Marple Local History Society on the work of a Conservation Officer. Paul asked for the standard fee of £25 paid by the LHS to be donated to the Iron Bridge Fund. Thanks to Paul the community funding situation now stands at:

14 November 2003  
A busy day! Peter, Ann Hearle and I spent the morning walking round the pathways of Brabyns Park discussing the Access Plan with Tim Boylan, Dave Burrows and Adrian Ellis, the Council members of the Project Team. Fortunately the wet weather held off until we'd finished.

In the afternoon we attended an Inception Meeting with SMBC's Team and Steve Black of Scott Wilson, the C