Fish Ladder Inspires Game of Pooh-Sticks
At Damariscotta Mills in Maine, USA, residents are celebrating the nearly completed restoration of the fish ladder built to help alewives return to their spawning grounds. It is Maine's oldest fish ladder, having been originally constructed in 1807 and it functioned for two centuries before the project to restore it began in 2007. This year, over 1 million alewives were counted entering Damariscotta Lake and this achievement is the focus of the Fish Ladder Restoration Celebration. There are still a few tasks to finish, which include pouring concrete to support some of the sections, finishing the concrete with a stone veneer and modifying the lowest section of the weir to still [...]
Ladders of Celebration
New Orleans' Mardi Gras parade is known worldwide for the bright colours, cheerful music and flamboyant parades that attract onlookers of all ages. The carnival flows through the streets, celebrating the city that hosts it. People line the pavements (or should that be sidewalks?) to watch the procession and join in with the fun, but for the younger generation it can be hard to make out what is going on from low down in the crowd. In the 1960s people started bringing ladders for children to sit on so they could watch the parade go by without their view being blocked by taller adults. These were not ordinary ladders, that you or [...]
Ladders for Herrings
Herrings have been the subject of many fish ladder and waterway improvements: recently we looked at the replacement of the fish ladder at the Nequasset Dam in Maine and the proposed improvements to the waterways around Rochester, Massachusetts in our last tour of the fish ladder world. The town of Scituate, also in Massachusetts, is to see an improvement in the local herring population shortly, as the renovation of the fish ladder and raising of the water level in the reservoir above has been approved by the Federal Government as part of an environmental bill. The good news for the residents of Scituate and the surrounding areas is that because the [...]
Have We Seen It All? Now a Ladder You Can Swim Up!
Okay, so they're not actual ladders, but using the idea of rungs as markers between each segment (similar to the concept of the 'property ladder') is a good way to keep fit while swimming, without getting bored. For both amateur and professional swimmers the training can be long and sometimes dull, swimming long distances every day. The swimming ladder breaks down the swim into manageable segments with a short rest break at each rung, with the emphasis on maintaining pace through the distances. A typical ladder for a 1.5km swim might be to do 100, then 200, then 300, 400 and 500 metres in unbroken segments with a short rest period [...]
A Spiral Romance
Spiral staircases are always surrounded by a real sense of 'what will I find?' In stories and films, they are often associated with airs of romance and mysterious goings on. A fair dame winds her way down an antique cast iron spiral staircase into the arms of her lover. Or, a young boy, eager for adventure, discovers in his grandfather's abode a twisting wooden spiral, up into a forbidden room holding forbidden treasure. This is the joy of spiral staircases; in our imaginations, they take us to those places that we would never dare tread or ever dare hope for in reality. The basic design of a spiral staircase is a [...]
Fish Ladders News Roundup!
There has been a lot going on in the world of fish ladders lately and it's all good news for herrings (and people who like to eat them!). The alewife species of herring is native to North America, but as with all types of fish, man-made obstacles in the rivers have seen the population decline in the last fifty or so years. Even when there are fish ladders in place there can still be a decline in population, as the fish ladders can fall into disrepair and older types are not as efficient as newer designs. At the Nequasset Dam in Maine the fish ladder had been in place for nearly [...]
We’re Sorry We Missed You…
…So we left your parcel on the roof! #Where's my Ladder! This is almost the exact wording of the Hermes courier card left by one delivery driver after the recipient of one parcel was not home. Benjamin Ward, 34, of Hove had ordered some clothes for his son and was not in when they were delivered. The courier may have been trying to throw the parcel over the house to avoid leaving it on the street, or helping Mr Ward avoid the inconvenience of going to the depot, but his throw was not up to scratch and the package ended up stuck on the roof. Mr Ward tweeted the delivery firm, [...]
Youngman Ladders Bought Out By US Firm
We know this is old Ladder news, but we were just tidying up our blog and realised we had not updated our readers since the takeover of Youngman Ladders was completed back in October, doh! Leading UK ladder manufacturer Youngman is being bought out by the US based WernerCo, via their UK branch Werner Access Products UK Holding. The takeover deal is completed at the end of October last year and will result in the Youngman Group joining forces with the world’s largest ladder manufacturer. Paul Bentley, the Managing Director of the Youngman Group said, “this deal, if approved by the CMA, will see Youngman Group become part of WernerCo, a [...]
