At about this time last year, just as we were entering the grips of the pandemic, I was lucky enough to join the members of the Vestry and shortly thereafter to be able to take the Vestry on a guided tour of our construction site. Back then a great deal of what I described was in the mind’s eye with much of the actual work taking place below the surface where Higgerson, the site contractor, was digging out and installing the new storm water management system and preparing the ground for the new rear wing.
What an incredible amount of construction action has happened over the past 12 months and for this year’s annual Vestry meeting I was able to lead the Vestry on a tour, all mask wearing and maintaining social distancing, around the existing buildings whilst the meeting itself was held in a large room in the new rear wing, albeit a room that looked like we were about to have an estate auction but more on that later. Last week I spent some blogging time chatting about the folks working around the site and promised to introduce a few more “construction stars” in this blogging episode. So to honour* that promise….. The Network Team: Most of the time there are two of them who by the very nature of the task always seem to be working where other people are not as they lay out and install what now seems to be a mile or more of blue CAT-6 cabling around the building. “What the heck is he blogging about now?” I hear you ask well as it happens CAT-6 cabling and data networks are something I do know a bit about so these two fellows are putting in the cables (called CAT-6) that will bring the little holes in the walls where you can plug in a computer or printer to life – it’s our new computer network that will also provide a WiFi connection to the internet to anyone armed with a lap top anywhere in the buildings, old or new. These cables are all being brought back, like a blue spider’s web, to our IT room and thereby giving Gretchen’s office a well-deserved relief from the tangle of technology that used to lurk and blink away in the corner. Eric’s Crew: I don’t know what else to call them but “Eric’s Crew,” a multi-talented and multi-role gang with a dynamic husband-and-wife demo come plasterers* duo at its core. If you need something ripping down (and believe me, we had a lot that needed ripping down) or need something putting up then these two are the point people in the construction assault. But there’s more! If you have a corridor and offices all full of heavy furniture have no fear for Eric’s crew are here (now that has a catchy ring to it, maybe their jingle?) and so it was that last Monday found Eric’s expanded crew, including the dynamic duo, shifting furniture out of the admin corridor and into the rear wing as a preliminary to the carpet team laying carpet and the paint team painting, which is a nice segway to my next topic. Moving large bits of furniture is not for the faint hearted so it was with some degree of relief that I was able to gratefully accept Scott Crumley’s offer of a work gang (also known as Eric’s Crew) to move the contents of the admin corridor and its offices into the largest room in the new back wing for temporary storage. Desks, chairs, bookcases, filing cabinets and sundry items all moved in the space of a couple of hours to make way for paint and new carpets. Some of this stuff was a tad on the heavy side and not just because of their sturdy build but in at least three instances because they were also still full of files, books, paperwork and, I think, someone's lunch. In the great move of things, the winning piece of furniture in the most difficult category goes, by unanimous decision, to the large, slightly overstuffed, leather settee that used to adorn Father Bob’s office. It will always be a mystery to “we-who-were- there” exactly how Eric and team got that recalcitrant beast through the office door, miracles do happen but then what should we expect? After all it is Father Bob’s office! And that brings me back to the Vestry meeting, another neat blogging segway even if I do say so myself, for that is why the Vestry found itself in a room filled with all types of office furniture. Finding a place to sit was certainly no problem and even that leathery old warhorse of a settee found itself busier than it has been for several months! Stay safe and stay healthy, David Beach. “Honour” Brit spelling for honor (and having lived in the States since 2003 I had to look that up) “Plasters” In England they put plaster on the walls, in the USA it’s mud!
2 Comments
Gretchen
3/9/2021 12:01:57 pm
"Tangle of technology"!!!
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Mal Higgins
3/31/2021 08:58:06 am
The crew that moved all the furniture out of the old offices to the new temporary storage probably had to take some Tylenol that night. I have seen that room of storage and I enjoy the thought of the Vestry gathered around, each with their own desk. I hope someone got a photo of that!
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AuthorDavid Beach is our Building Project Manager, and has been an active part of our parish family for more than a decade. He is retired from NATO and the British Army and is a joy and blessing to all of us. Archives
July 2021
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