Piece of Firefighting History Put on Permanent Display

Over the past few months, work has been undertaken to restore an historic Merryweather & Sons hand operated firefighting pump, after it had been stored in an outbuilding for almost 40 years.

History

The Merryweather four-person hand pump was commissioned in 1906 by Lord Drummond of Edwinsford Mansion, near Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire. The pump was procured following a serious haybarn fire on the Edwinsford Estate the previous year.

On the evening of the 22nd March 1907 the Drummond family were alerted to a fire which had broken out in one of the bedrooms in the house. The pump was put to work promptly and ensured that the fire was extinguished within an hour, preventing any further fire damage to the mansion house.

Restoration

In 1986, the Merryweather hand operated pump was purchased by Dyfed Fire Brigade Officers Eric Barnes, Arwel Fowler, Donwy Williams and Dyfrig Williams. Following its purchase, the pump remained in an outbuilding belonging to one of the retired officers for almost 40 years, until the former officers approached MAWWFRS to enquire whether the Service would be interested in displaying the pump.

The pump was in a state of disrepair due to its age, with blistering paint and tarnished brass work, and it required a significant amount of restoration work prior to it being displayed at MAWWFRS’s Headquarters.

The restoration work was undertaken by former MAWWFRS officer, Rob Rayner, who has an interest in restoring and displaying vintage vehicles.

The restoration process took approximately four months to complete and involved stripping out the component parts of the pump and removing the paintwork to expose the galvanised metal bodywork. The metal components required priming and repainting, the brass elements were polished, the internal and external bodywork of the pump were repainted and wooden components that had deteriorated were replaced.

Finally, the internal and external bodywork was professionally painted and a signwriter was commissioned to emboss the ‘Edwinsford 1906’ lettering across the front of the pump, along with the Merryweather & Sons logo.