Support our Full Steam Ahead Appeal
Help us raise funds to bring life back to our historic stationary steam engines – the power behind the Industrial Revolution.
Learn more about the history of the engines and, if you can, use the links below to make a donation and help us meet our target.
When the museum was run by the council, prior to 2000, they made use of a large Hartley and Sugden oil-fired boiler to run the three steam engines then in the Power Gallery – the beam engine, the Newton Bean and Mitchell horizontal engine and the Bellis and Morcom twin cylinder steam generator set. When CIMA took over the operation of the museum, the steam boiler had not run for nearly twenty years and so sadly, neither had the engines. It has always been CIMA’s ambition to restore the engines to demonstratable order.
Over the years the volunteers at the museum have been working hard to restore as much of our industrial machinery to working order as possible. We are excited to say we are now in a position to put our efforts into getting these magnificent work horses of the Industrial Revolution up and running. To do this we are going to install a modern reconditioned boiler to generate the required steam. Volunteers have started carrying out all the operational and safety checks necessary before the engines can once again be steamed up.
We hope that this becomes a major visitor attraction, with steam days when we run the engines, and special steam experience days, that allow enthusiasts to spend the day working with our Steam Team, firing up and running the engines. Adding steam to our Power Gallery is a crucial part of telling the story of the development of power in industrial Calderdale and will add to the exciting visitor experience at the museum.
With limited resources most of our weekly income is used to keep the museum open for visitors. Returning steam to our engines is a major project for which we need to raise a considerable amount of money. We have already had a large proportion pledged from generous supporters but unfortunately, we are still a bit short of our target.
We launched our Full Steam Ahead Appeal last year with an appeal to our members and then a special and very entertaining ‘Evening with Barrie Rutter’ one of our patrons. We are continuing to find innovative ways to raise money to complete the project.
If you would like to support the Full Steam Ahead Appeal with a donation, you can donate here or make a BACS payment using the payment details below and reference FSAA, giving whatever you can pledge and, if you can, please gift aid your donation as this helps us reach our target even faster. You can also come into the museum to donate money to the appeal in the usual ways at reception.
Yet another way to donate to our Appeal is to visit Baby Enid in the Power Gallery. She is the newest creation from our very talented member Tony Griffiths. Baby Enid is a model of Enid, our Newton Bean and Mitchell Horizontal engine in the power gallery, one of the four engines which will eventually be running under steam.
Drop your coins in to Baby Enid’s cylinder and turn the flywheel to see your money drop into the collection pan. All donations collected by Baby Enid will go to the Full Steam Ahead Appeal.
We will be finding a suitablle way to recognise all our donors (unless you wish to remain anonymous) once the project is complete.
We need to push the our gauge as far into the red area as possible to ensure adequate funding to complete the project.
Thank you for all your generous support.
BACS Payment details:
Account name: Calderdale Industrial Museum Association
Sort code: 30-93-76
Account number: 13797563