World of Water, the forward-thinking, energetic, positive, hard working, warm-hearted, water-wise, water-caring charity.
We need your help:
We are one of many charities doing wonderful jobs and as BBC Radio 4 Today presenter, John Humphrys puts it, we are a ‘Kitchen Table Charity’. The Kitchen Table Charities Trust.
Our kitchen table at the HoBB welcomes socially-distanced volunteers from around the world through the HelpExchange (Helpx.net) and Wwoof.org schemes but at times it is too small to work on things like waterlife displays, educational material for schools, prototype water farming equipment and food production trials. And unlike the original Aber-Gwen Mill (see below), our present field centre has limited parking space. 
We need your help to find a bigger kitchen table or possibly a larger kitchen in the cloud – one we can work around to share our research findings with more international students.
Follow us now as we grow our profile in the Cloud ( Tweet to @Worldof_Water )
Background:
In 1978, A.E.D. Taylor and J. Latham invested in a project to save Abergwen Mill, a large Welsh woollen mill in Dolgran, Pencader, Carmarthenshire, with the support of the Brewery at Arddol Mill.
This early water heritage project spawned a small exhibition on water and an aquaculture research unit. On opening to the public, with assistance from the Wales Tourist Board (Now VisitWales), the area between both mills was soon adopted as a watery playground by local children, and nicknamed ‘World of Water’ by two of them, Wayne and Peter.
The mill site closed after the death of Mr Taylor but as all the children wanted their World of Water to live on, an educational work/play group was formed. This group of five trustees, one remaining founder, one patron plus volunteers, designed and built an outreach exhibition on the work of World of Water which toured the UK for a year and included details of the work of the late Frank Buckland
World of Water was registered as an educational and research charity in 1986 to help those in need to:
* develop and share better methods of water use in food production (Latham-Jessé Project)
* research, develop and support other ways to use water more efficiently
* promote the health of the full water cycle for the benefit of all water reliant life.
Examples:
Water Heritage ( Please tweet to #waterheritage )
We surveyed and reported on Coultershaw Mill. This is now a Heritage Site exhibiting ‘centuries of water power’. Fantastic news.
We prepared a proposal with designer Russell Ord on Hatton Water Works and a Water Safety pack for Severn Trent Water, UK.
We co-designed a water visitor centre and water gardens with Martin Hulse for Sopley Mill, a peat bog centre with John Wincott in Ireland, and a visitor attraction at Hales Abbey Fishponds.
We prepared the presentation drawings to promote the UK’s National Angling Centre and a touring caravan for the Atlantic Salmon Trust.
We would like to thank everyone for their suggestions. Please keep them coming in. We do research every one.
Here are a few of your suggestions we have been to view:
The Cadbury Indoor Girls Bath in Bournville (A watery space but no parking area)
A small Pig Sty in the Cotswold (Thank you Beryl Cornish – a very useful and safe place when we needed to store our Wet Harvest exhibition)
An industrial unit in Water Street, Birmingham (Thank you John Eley for use of space. We enjoyed building the ‘Wet Harvest’ exhibition and being your neighbour for the build. )
A fish Hatchery developed by Welsh Water (Thank you for sending us details of your hatchery and also for supplying our first trout fingerlings at Pencader)
A Water Mill alongside the busy rail links through to Crewe (This was a bit too noisy and the mill pond was not going to be easy to renovate and fill with water)
A group of sandstone caves in a woodland (Damp, no vehicular access … but great fun)
An antique centre in Stratford-upon-Avon (Too costly to rent but it would have been a good high street location to promote our charity’s work)
A Water Tower (This sold for a very high price at auction and was really a bit small – even for our kitchen table)
A ruin of a Water Mill in Eardisland alongside the River Arrow (Yes yes yes. Beautiful setting but not a friendly neighbour)
An old primary school in Knighton (Fun, close, but costly to convert to our needs. It is now home to the amazing and absurd world of the creative wonder which is, Andy Hazell)
A shop in Bridge Street, Kington (Brilliant high street location with good meeting/ office space but sadly, no access allowed by neighbour to rear of this property)
A perfect property in the old Fishguard harbour (But the ground floor floods each Spring tide since the local council built a car park for visitors/ tourists)
A woodland located by a famous South Wales beach. (Perfect marine study area near a heritage visitor attraction but no buildings allowed on site)
Riverside fields to the West of Womaston Castle pond, Walton (Perfect. Large. Plenty of water. Flat land / car parking. Specimen trees. But bid not high enough)
A little mediaeval church in Gwynfe, Brecon Beacons. (Idea for storage of WoW exhibitions and as a meeting hall but our bid wasn’t high enough)
An small house alongside the Cleddau Estuary so good as a boat house and hub for marine algae studies. We didn’t put in a bid as the owner kept increasing the price)
5 acres and a disused chicken house overlooking the Bristol Chanel, UK (ideal for an indoor aquaponics research unit but isolated and poor road access)
A great 3 storey stone chapel in Kington (but this was bought by a developer to create 10 flats which is a good use for the building)
A tan house (tannery) with land and river in Staunton upon Arrow but this went at auction for a figure beyond our charity’s budget.
A community hall in Fishguard overlooking the sea.
Please keep your suggestions flowing in. You can always email us (see image below) or get in touch with us via our field centre contact page
If you would like to make a comment, either privately or for us to publish and share, then go over to our comments page and make sure you type 060 at the beginning of your comment to grab our attention and show us you’re for real straight away. Thanks.
All best
<*)))))><
Grant
On behalf of the Trustees of World of Water.
Reg. UK Charity No 327188)
