Standing proud

Next month a group of local people will gather at Bath’s new South Quays business site to officially unveil a monument to the engineering giant that once occupied this land and gained a reputation for being ‘Crane makers to the World.’

I am talking about Stothert and Pitt of course and some of this group of restoration enthusiasts once worked for the company.

They’ve successfully restored a six-ton hand-driven quarry crane which was built at the Newark Works around 1864 and is in fact the oldest S and P crane surviving intact.

The project has taken four years and the crane will be officially handed over to the city as a lasting memorial to a company that once employed hundreds of local people.

I went down for a chat with Peter Dunn, who lead the restoration. I am sorry about the wind noise on the microphone but that’s a May breeze for you!