ABC Wednesday, W for Wheel

On our last day in Great Britain, we were in London, where we made a short trip on the Thames. Here I saw for the first time the Millenium Wheel or The Eye of London. The guide told us that the construction of the Wheel was sponsored by British Airways. I was waiting to hear that he would tell where it was constructed, but in vain..
It was made in Holland at the factory where my eldest daughter was a draughtswoman, who had actually drawn a small part of the Wheel.At that time we were very anxious to see if it could be constructed at all. It was designed by David Marks and Julia Barfield, who were architects. A well known Japanese company was first asked to do the construction, but they turned it down. Too difficult!! Then Hollandia in the Netherlands offered to do the job, after the engineers studied long and hard on the project.They even made a model of it. It was going to be the biggest wheel in the world. With a splendid ceremony the green light was given on January, 28th, 1999.The work had to be finished before the beginning of the new millenium.It was an enormous challenge.

The right photo shows one of the four rim sections, which had to be taken to London from Holland. The upper left photo shows the first section arriving in London, the upper right photo
shows the assembly of the last section on a special platform in the river.

The London Eye stands 135 metres (443 ft) high on the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in London, England, between Westminster and Hungerford Bridges.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with W.