Oli puts sculling skills to use

Day two proved much busier than day one and as the Allen keys of fate secured the quayside barriers of Excel shortly after 1900 the 121st visitor of the day alighted the gangway. The brickmaking clay from Collier’s of Marks Tey in Essex was handed over to the Newham Brickmaking Project, an amazing partnership between the University of East London, the Victoria and Albert Museum and a fantastic group of female artisan brickmakers from St Austell near where Blue Mermaid was built at Polruan in 2016. Collier’s dug the clay from their own quarry. When Oli visited he learnt how the firm has produced handmade bricks since 1863. They had a brief episode with machinery to supply demand after the war but reverted to manual processes where nowadays three makers produce 2500 bricks each per week and have clay for a good number of years yet.