Refurbishment update
GUILDHALL UPDATE - February 2009
In the autumn of 2008 the Guildhall had and spent Grants of £2,000 from the Community Council & £3,500 from SABC (total £5,500) to re-build the floor literally from the ground up, the floor is again a suspended floor but now with 4" of insulation and pipe work installed to provide under-floor heating at a later date. During the work the builder & plumber, Clive Tench & Roger Plant, uncovered the mysteries of the corner by the kitchen hatch. We knew it was "sort of" connected with the cellar and was very wet and deep. Uncovering this area it was discovered that two oak joists supporting the end wall were rotten and not really doing their job. A boiler was discovered, we think not used since 1937. Damp was accessing the hall under the floor space from this void and was a main cause of the rot in that area and possibly beyond. The concrete slab against the outside of the back/ east wall was covering this void and was far from safe. In short, this area needed urgent remedial action. We sent a begging letter to SABC and they where kind enough to provide us with £4,500 to carry out the remedial work. Hence the new slab and manhole you may have seen at the back of the Guildhall. When the weather gets better we will open it up again and arrange for those of you that have not seen the Cellars to come and have a look, they have yet to be dated accurately but they are certainly older than 1700. Access is a little tricky, but safe, if I can get down pretty well anyone could.I must mention, and others have made similar observations, the quality of work and skill shown by Clive & his son and Roger the plumber & his son whilst carrying out the work on the floor and boiler void has been very impressive. They have been very generous with their support, commitment and rational reasoned approach to their work. I thank them and hope we can employ them again soon on the next phase of the Guildhall's refurbishment.Following on from the completion of the floor project electricians from RMW have completed a major upgraded our electrical system in the main room up in early January this installation was funded by a grant of £4,000 from the Grassroots Fund We secured a grant from Arts Alive for £5,000 to install Flicks in the Sticks equipment so we shall have a permanent system for showing films. This was installed mid January by a company from the south of England called Purple Cat and we had our first show on Friday 23rd Jan. The show was MamaMia! and it was enjoyed by an audience in the region of 70 people. Details of future shows can be found on our events page.All in all it has been quite an eventful twelve months we will have utilised a total of £19,000 in grants, and in addition we have spent in the region £4,000 of our own funds. This has dented our bank balance considerably but on the plus side it is proof we can match fund and have a commitment to the Guildhalls improvement. Thus placing the Guildhall in a strong position to go forward next year with a few more projects.
Tim ROBERTS Chairman - Cound Guildhall Trustees