Monthly Update February 2008

Robin Maddock

Firstly, thanks to all the funders who have made this project a reality.

Since work started in early February, the weather has been relatively kind, albeit very windy at times, allowing good progress to be made. The site has been secured and scaffolding erected around the building, allowing the cement harling to be completely removed - it fell off in some places!!

The old slates have also been removed and new slates have been ordered and are on-site. The sarking on the roof of the main building is in good repair with only the edges of the timbers at the gable ends showing signs of rot. These will be treated and the infected sections removed and replaced. Some of the skews (the stone tops of the gable ends for those who are unfamiliar with the term!) need to be replaced as do all the sandstone ridge tiles. We expect the roof of the main building to be finished in a couple of weeks.

The roof of the bothy part of the building was in imminent danger of collapse and has also been removed. The original bunks in the bothy have been moved into storage for re-installation once the new roof is on and the internal walls and floors are ready to take them.

Services connections are underway with pipes etc being hidden so as to affect the integrity, structure and visual impact of the building as little as possible.

The festival contractor, architect, chairman, project manager, and project co-ordinator meet every fortnight to discuss any issues that arise, but are also in regular contact at other times to ensure that any problems that do arise, are dealt with quickly. This is necessary due to the very tight completion deadline of 31st May, with the official opening scheduled for the weekend of the Boat Festival - 21st & 22nd June. We are delighted that Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has agreed to carry out the opening ceremony.

Work has started on the designs for the interpretative and exhibition areas, as well as the genealogical research centre. The artefacts that were in the building have been moved into storage and we shall soon begin the work of cataloguing them and then preparing them for display in the ice house chambers.

The project has attracted considerable local interest through press coverage and word of mouth. We already have a number of volunteers who have come forward expressing a wish to help us once the building is ready for opening, but are still looking for more volunteers.

Interest from the immediate local residents is also very positive. They are all appreciative that at last this building will be restored to its former glory, rather than the sad and dilapidated structure that it had become.

Although progress has been good, at the end of last week our contractor advised that at that stage they were running about 10 days behind schedule. However he is confident that this can be made up in the coming weeks.

I have attached some recent press cuttings and pictures of the building showing its current state, but to see more you can visit our website www.salmonbothy.co.uk