Cracking On

Another good turn out, and a busy day in C & M.  

 

 

 

 

In the picture you can see Mike putting a second coat of gloss on the new door for the Gents toilet at CRC.  This is now ready for installation early in the New Year.

The next picture shows the 2 Running In Boards.  The one furthest from the camera is awaiting the letters.  The nearer board had a coat of primer applied during the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete took a team to CRC and finished installing the modesty screen outside the Gents toilet.  Unfortunately there is only one photographer, and he was helping another team at Toddington, hence we don't have any pictures of Pete at work there.

 

An overview of the new pod site there shows where the work has been going on, at the north end of the car park. On the left are the existing pods, next to them the site for the new ones, and then on the right is the childrens' playground.

 

After lunch the CRC team joined the other team at at Todddington and made a start levelling the ground and laying a foundation layer of ballast for the footpath alongside the new Pods.

 

Phil and Terry levelling the first new post.

 

Setting the corner post.

The fence line begins to take shape.

Rod pours another bag of Postcrete.

The main activity was again centered on removing the last of the rotten posts in the fence around the children's play area.  This job was rather time consuming as the remains of the rotten posts were still buried in about a foot of concrete.  However we did manage to get them all out in the end and also do a first fix using Postcrete on all the new posts.  The team will need to top these off with more concrete next time, then paint the posts and finally re-fit the fence panels which are in quite good condition. 

Overall view of the playground fence posts going in.

Phil, Terry & Rod tackle the last rotten post.

With the fence posts back in, a start could be made on a footpath which will run between the bases of the new pods and the fence separating the new pods from the playground.

Jim M, Mike G, Austen and John are in action here.

This is a shot of the pods we already have. They have two beds in each, and a small toilet facility. Bigger than some Japanese hotel rooms, and so useful for people from far away, or early risers for warming up engines.

 

It appears that due to logistical issues the new pods will not now be delivered until the second week of January.  Hopefully the site will have dried out by then.

 

Pete and his gang also managed to do a quick job for C&W, where a supply cable, formerly outdoors until the barn extension was built over it, is now indoors but in an open trench.

The cable was covered in a layer of concrete mixed on site, and nicely levelled off.

Almost invisible now.

More podding about

There were three teams in action today.  Barrie, Bruce and Ian were again working on another running in board in the workshop. There are 2 under construction at the moment, but the cameraman was unfortunately not there to see them for you.

The main job at Toddington was to continue work in preparation for the pods.  There is still no date for delivery but we hear that things are moving on that front. 

 

The first picture today shows the pod area where a manhole cover was moved to one side last week. 

 

In its previous location the original manhole would have ended up precisely under one of the pods.

 

 

 

 

 

The main activity today was to erect posts to support the new boundary fence between the pods and the children's play area, and to remove some of the rotten posts supporting the fence to the play area.  

 

Rod baling out a hole near the water pipe

Post hole no 2 is being excavated by Rod Terry and Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phil joins in to check for level

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end just about all were suspect so they have all come out bar 2, which have been left so we can set line and height for the new posts next time.  

 

Row of posts, from the car park

Pete starts to back fill near the new manhole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also wanted to expose the water pipes to the existing Pods to see if these can be used for the new ones.

Austen coats the buried sections of the new posts with preservative

Before lunch we managed to do all the main posts; then after lunch intermediate posts were installed.

The stock of removed fence panels.  These will be fettled up and reused.

In the picture on the left you can see the pile of recovered fence panels by the toilet block, and in the foreground, two of the older posts remaining to help set up the line and height for next time.

In this final picture you can see the whole row of new fence posts. They run alongside the cast concrete bases for the pods when they arrive.

In other news Pete, Austen and our cameraman worked on the roofs of the Admin offices. These are nearing the end of their lives and leaks are beginning to appear. The gang tried to make them waterproof once again for the coming winter season, with a mixture of sealing up splits and covering with tarpaulins. Alas, on that occasion no photographs were taken, but we can reveal that the information office now sports a bright green tarpaulin hat.

 

The sooner these functions re-locate to our newly acquired offices in Winchcombe the better. (May 2019 is the suggested date)

More work on the pods

As another outdoor department, the Construction and maintenance team suffered from the steady rain yesterday, but did manage to advance the work preparing for the pods at Toddington. As our roving reporter was taken away to a meeting during the morning while it was still dry, there are no photographs of the sewer pipe being extended into the new manhole, but he was able to work in the afternoon, after it had started to rain seriously. Typical of the weather of course.

Boards in place for the barrow

Following the experience of getting loaded wheelbarrows stuck in the ground Pete had delivered some boards on Saturday, so transporting dug out clay, ballast and concrete was a lot easier.

Shuttering for base L4

Jim M on mixer duty; Mike is off in search of inspiration.

All the work was done in very steady rain.

Apologies for the modest number of photographs this time, but with the rain the team was keen to finish off the work and there wasn't so much enthusiasm to dig into the dry clothing with wet hands to get out the camera.





Then it was all hands to finish the positioning of the l/h bases, bale out the water and fill them with concrete. 

Shuttering being adjusted by John and Rod.

Phil consolidates the concrete for base L3

By close of play the team had finished the outstanding work for the r/h bases and had also completed all 5 l/h ones.

Much to their delight the levels of all bases are just about spot on.  Quite a tribute to the workmanship of the team in atrocious weather 2 weeks running.

It is now hoped that the pods will be delivered next week, so that the team can concentrate on connecting up the water and sewer connections.

Also delivered were some 20 paving slabs. These will allow a start to be made on the footpath along the front of the pods next time.