With the New Year rapidly approaching us, I thought it would
be nice to reflect on 2017 and look at some of the things which I have enjoyed.
January
The year started with my assistance on advising the owners
of a Napoleonic Fort, the fort had many issues relating to the structure within
the fort, damp, structural and a boundary ditch wall which had
more issues! The fort had been neglected for many years but is now in safe
hands.
The quality of the brickwork in this series of structures is
brilliant, the hierarchy of the site with offices and enlisted men occupying
different areas of the site, with very different accommodation. The whole site
is an Aladdin’s cave of fascinating materials, craftsmanship and historical
analysis.
The brickwork of from the defensive ditch.
Cast iron Bridge,
leading into the site, from the main access road.
February
I had the pleasure to visit Swanage, Dorchester, to see
where Purbeck Stone was quarried, this site was typical of the many hundreds of
quarries active in the 19th Century in this area.
Photos of two different
entrances to the mines
March
In March I had the pleasure of attending the Hot Lime Day at
the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, I always love going to events here as
the location is brilliant and the speakers are often outstanding. This was
organised by the Building Limes Forum (BLF) and was brilliant. A wonderful day
was had, and I met some old faces who I had attended training days with before
from the BLF and elsewhere.
While there I had the pleasure of listening to David Wiggins
who opened my eyes to the notion of free limes in a hot mix, fascinating talk
with many interesting demonstrations taking place in the afternoon.
April
In April were invited to interview for the conservation of
an incredible site, it was everything the 19th and early 20th
Century epitomised. The country estate contained wonderful buildings including
wonderful survivors in the kitchen garden of Weeks’ green houses, with their
gorgeous detailing.
The cherry on the cake for this site was the wonderful
family mausoleum which was breathtakingly splendid to discover across the
field.
May
We took the family on various holidays to Windsor and Dorset
where we met interesting people!
June
We attended a family wedding at a Kent castle, the views
were amazing and the building was surprisingly unspoilt, with
lead rainwater goods and a rain water tank.
July
In July my wife went on her Birthday present, I had arranged
for her to be fed to the tigers. I mean, for her to feed, the tigers; thankfully both she and the big cats were unharmed
during the whole experience!
August
The biggest thing which happened in this month was my long
held ambition of visiting the Great Dorset Steam Show. A friend and I drove
down and camped for two nights, many things were ticked of the bucket list of
things I have always wanted to see, ranging from a wall of death, a 1920’s
Caterpillar Sixty, to a row of showman’s engines gathered together in a
fairground which was partly powered by steam.
September
In this month one project was completed and another came
alive again after a period of quiet from the client. While this was going on
after a site visit, a colleague and I found the spring source of the stream
which once fed a Saxon monastery and village, which every Autumn builds into
such a large flow of water, it travels for tens of miles, sometimes causing flooding.
The spring head which has a Victorian timber frame over
it.
A new kitchenette built
within a cupboard to fit within the historic character of the Grade 1 Listed
church which when closed, looks like an ordinary cupboard.
Photo of the cupboard
closed looking like an ordinary cupboard.
October
October was quite a month, I appeared on television for BBC
South East Today in their evening news item about a heritage grant aided
project in Margate done in conjunction with HLF, THI and KCC and the Local
Authority. The interviewer stood in a bath and the camera man faced his camera
towards the toilet. A strange experience to say the least!
At the beginning of October a good friend and I sand slaked
some lime and gauged it with an NHL, in order to rebuild part of their
Victorian garden wall. A great time was had by all.
November
In November we visited Vine house who are in the mists of a
full re-roofing project and the public were able to walk around the scaffolding
to see for themselves, the kids loved it and I enjoyed seeing someone else’s
project. The interior of the house also had some wonderfully intact remains of its former glory.
December
This month seems to have been full of meeting people, I
attended the Heritage Day organised by the Heritage Alliance, this was very
interesting, on the evening of that day, our firm held an evening drinks
reception at the copper Rivet, in Chatham Dockyard. The building was splendid,
the company was great and the gin was very nice.
Photo of the talk from
HLF at the Heritage Day.
Photo of the Copper
Rivet distillery.
It’s been an amazing year crammed full of things both inside
and outside the office. The things which have not been mentioned above are the
countless projects which have been worked on over the year, some of which
continue and some of which have come to an end. It also does not mention the
amazing people I have worked with over the year who I look forward to working
with again in 2018.
I would like to take this chance to wish everyone a happy
and healthy 2018.
Comments
Post a Comment