Dan Cruickshank, the softly spoken mutterer of goshes and gollys on BBC2′s various history and architecture programs has been roped in to front a fund raising campaign for the Tidal Mills at Bow.

I was there the other month for their public open days, and it was interesting to read in the formal announcement that the mills are still interested in using the Tidal Mill as a way of generating hydro electricity.

According to the statement, Dan said: “The House Mill is the largest remaining tidal mill in the world and is a hidden gem in a deprived area of east London. The building is hugely important both for its heritage value and its future potential to generate hydro-electricity.”

Personally, that sounded far to staid to be his own words, especially as it lacked any goshes in the sentence.

I hope they do manage to turn the old building into a hydro-electric power generator as that is in a way a return to its original function – which is to use the power of the tide to generate motive power for grinding wheat.