March 2012

Who are the Friends? Friends promote research, conservation and celebration of the Springs, Spouts, Fountains and Holy Wells of the Malvern Hills and of Great Malvern as a Spa Town.

We are pleased to report that recent renovation work on Lord Sandys' Spout in Spring Lane has resulted in enhanced water supply to the spout. The drainage works behind the spout have recently been rebuilt in conjunction with the adjacent residential development and the unwanted water now spills into the brook - see picture.  Inevitably the odd Morrisons plastic bag was floating in the basin but apart from that, this site is in excellent condition and destined to remain one of our significant water features. It is difficult to appreciate that, some years ago, the site was fenced by builders during the Christmas period and it was only through the prompt action of ourselves that it was opened up for public accessibility again.

Since the last Newsletter, we see that the St Werstan plaque has been installed at the Community Hospital. The text reads "For the Conservation and Preservation of Malvern's Water Heritage 2011 presented by Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells in conjunction with Coca Cola Enterprises". The hospital has made a superb job of mounting it on an oak base and it looks really impressive! Anyone finding they are in the hospital, either as a patient or visitor, will see this reminder of Malvern's water heritage on the first floor landing outside the ward. Ask at reception if you want to make a special visit to see the fountain.

Do you have a site to nominate for the St Werstan Award for conservation of our Springs and Wells? If so let us know.

Mystery Well - where is it?

With all our researches into springs and wells, we are nevertheless amazed at the frequency with which new information comes to our notice. Some of it dovetails in nicely with information that we are already aware of, and so helps build a better understanding. Other things just do not make sense in isolation and so we put them on the back burner until something further enables us to develop the more complete picture.  This is the case with the picture illustrated. We know the date from the caption, 1820. The picture came to light after the last newsletter was sent out and was discovered by a friend clearing her mother's house contents. Can you help enlighten us as to where it is? Is it a Malvern Spring or elsewhere? Please contact us if you have any notion of where or what it is.

Water the Healer - ancient wisdom

Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, first published in the 17th century, gives clues as to how water was considered in the past. Republished in 1849, it was at the time still considered 'state of the art' with regard to mental health diagnosis, deriving much of its knowledge from the ancient classical philosophies.  The prognosis and cure included dietary considerations, which including water. 'Pure, thin, light water, by all means use, of good smell and taste, like to the air in sight, such as is soon hot, soon cold, and which Hippocrates so much approves, if at least it may be had. Rain water is purest, so that it fall not down in great drops, and be used forthwith, for it quickly putrefies. Next to it fountain water that riseth in the east, and runneth eastward, from a quick running spring, from flinty, chalky, gravely grounds: and the longer a river runneth, it is commonly the purest, though many springs do yield the best water at their fountains.'

A Little Bit of History in a Worcestershire Spa Advertisement.

Recently we were searching a collection of old Punch Magazines and were intrigued by this advertisement for Droitwich spa treatments. Now that foreign spas were inaccessible it says, cure your rheumatism at home.  Other ailments addressed include gout and lumbago. A bag of crystals could be had and delivered to your home for half a crown. The explanation for this amazing offer is revealed in the date, October 3^rd 1917. As Britain emerged from the third year of the Great War, those who would in the past have considered spas like Marienbad as the place to take the cure, now resorted to their bathrooms. A combination of austerity measures and lack of foreign travel facilities meant that the foreign water cure was off the agenda.  As a result, the war saw the demise of the traditional spa treatment. It was not until the late 1990s that we saw a revival in spa tourism in England with a new type of resort, the pampering spa, with alternative treatments to those offered by mainstream medicine. In spite of this the old style spa resort survived in mainland Europe with spa towns like Marienbad today offering both traditional and modern spa treatments.

Statistics Tell of Accidents and Death at the Wells

This alarming result indicates the danger of the open well and the fearless nature of young male toddlers, who no doubt were left out in the yard to play and climb over anything they could see. Meanwhile, the girls probably stayed in doors helping mum in the kitchen. And this highlights another danger. One in ten of all child accidents for the under 5s were caused by children getting scalded at the 'pot'. Not only was getting the water dangerous, so was heating it up. Thank goodness for piped water and springs that Malvern kids would not have been able to fall down.

PHOENIX RISES FROM THE ASHES - TUDOR APARTMENTS MAY HAVE MALVERN WATER SUPPLY

Over recent weeks we have all no doubt been aware of the total refurbishment of the historic Tudor Hotel, formerly Dr Gully's nineteenth century water cure establishment.  The plan is to convert the premises into proper apartments rather than one room lets, which was its previous use. There are two wells associated with the site and it is pleasing to learn that source water is being considered as a possible supply to the apartments in the future.  Well done all those involved in promoting the idea.

NEW MALVERN WATERS WEB SITE UP AND RUNNING

Some Friends noticed that we put a new web site address at the end of our last Newsletter. This is going on-line in 2012 in conjunction with our forthcoming book, 'Celebrated Springs of the Malvern Hills'. We have been able to do this through the Spas Research Fellowship who provided the infrastructure to incorporate all our disparate web activities under a single entity. 

Already nicknamed the 'book of Revelations' MalvernWaters.co.uk comprises an ever increasing encyclopaedia of 'pages' or 'entries' about Malvern waters and allied subjects. The specialist search facilities enable you to investigate specific interests. Alternatively click on 'Friends' for a subject menu.

Do have a look at the new site and see what you think. You can also add information to the site by clicking on Add or Edit. Do not worry if you get into a tangle, we will help you sort out what you are adding. The criteria are that is should be related to springs and wells or the Malvern Hills and not too controversial. It can include commercial enterprises, clubs and societies or just something that Friends will be interested in. You can also update your information.  Have a look and play around, bearing in mind that it will take the best part of this year to get everything planned up and running.

MalvernWaters.co.uk is founded as a tribute to 160 years of Schweppes bottling Malvern Waters.

Recycling - Who is Kidding Who?

In August 2008 we reported in Newsletter 23 the exciting innovations of the Belu brand of bottled water.  At the time we noted that Belu is one outcome of the launch in 2001 of Global Compact, the U.N's attempt to solve some of the world's environmental problems. The water is Wenlock water, bottled at source at the bottling works at Church Stretton in Shropshire. Like Malvern spring water it has very low mineral content, because like Malvern water it emerges from the Pre-Cambrian hillsides. But best of all were the bottles. Belu (the root of the word is Latin for 'beauty') makes its bottles out of CORN!  So they can either be recycled or composted. The bottle label states that 'commercially composted' it takes eight weeks for the bottle to decompose back to soil - a million times faster than standard plastic bottles. That must be good for the environment. We said in 2008 that we would domestically compost the bottle and let you know what happens.    

Well, we put the bottle outdoors to weather in the middle of a compost heap and would you believe it - when we recovered it this year we found it almost as good as new. (see picture) It was only the label that had decayed over the last three or so years!

Well Decorating 2012

The theme for the forthcoming well decorating this year is 'Achievement'. This will take place over the May Day bank Holiday weekend and we look forward to seeing our springs and wells decorated, hopefully to the high standards achieved in previous years. This is now the largest celebration of its kind in the UK and we must congratulate Lionel Shorstone for such an achievement after our more humble beginnings in 1993, when Cora initiated the rite. Perhaps Lionel deserves a site decorated after him!

Water Flows on Belle Vue Terrace

We thought that there had been a new spring erupt on Belle Vue Terrace on the snowy weekend of 4/5 February. However the water fall in the picture was caused by a burst in the filter box above. Malvhina went dry and we gained a new water feature for a short while.

Thought for the day - gossip and innuendo is like confetti - it goes everywhere in the wind and is practically impossible to clear up afterwards.

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