Catch them unawares
The Etruscan Flint and Bone Mill at Etruria, you may recall, was closed on Bank Holiday Monday a few weeks ago but we have crept back down the Caldon Canal over the past few days in order to arrive here at noon on Wednesday when it opens. And we succeeded! Although Jesse Shirley & Co still grind flint here for the production of pottery and cattle bones for bone china, this is now carried out in vast new premises. The original steam-powered mill has been preserved and for a small fee one can walk around the Kiln, Crusher room, Gear room, Pan room, Boiler House, and Engine House. Once a month the Princess beam engine built in 1820 is in steam when all the machinery does its thing.
Next weekend the Stoke-on-Trent Boat Club is celebrating its golden anniversary with a boat rally to which they are expecting about 150 boats. We must have met most of them coming the other way!