Smethwick Pumping Station

i was meeting some ex work colleagues for lunch today and had to collect one of them who can't drive at the moment from Penkridge.  I also had to take Dad to his church lunch club and go to the Dentist.  Lots to do but I found I had a little time on the way to Penkridge to look for a Blip on the Canal.  The colours were looking good this morning - lots of interest in the Smethwick area and we will go to visit the museum housed in this pumping station building at some point.


"Situated on the Birmingham Main Line Canal, Galton Valley Pumping Station first opened in 1892 with the purpose of pumping water from the lower Birmingham New Main Line to the high Old Main Line Canal. This was to replace the water lost from the higher level when boats went through the Smethwick locks. However the station only had a short working life, closing in the mid 1920s due to reduced traffic on the canals. Apart from a short period during the Second World War the building sat empty until it was restored and opened as part of the Galton Valley Canal Heritage Centre in the late 1980s."


Lunch was excellent and we had a good chat about all sorts of things - we have all got some difficult things going on in our lives and I think it did us good to talk.


My Photobook from Ecuador and the Galapagos has been delivered - of course the first things I noticed were the two spelling mistakes.  Pleased with the book although I didn't realise quite how many blue footed boobies I had included!