This is the fourth year of works at Colt Hill and at the end of each we have paused to reflect on our progress. This year has seen a big change as phase one of the club house has emerged from the ground.
Please use the menu to select the items of interest, or just browse through the entirety of my ramblings.
The construction of phase one of the club house has been undertaken this year, once all funding was confirmed in March. The construction of the foundations seemed to take all of April and May as our contractor made progress despite the wet weather. Through the summer the clubhouse rose from the ground: first walls, then the steel frame; more walls; roof timbers and finally the roof. In the autumn the windows and roller shutters completed the shell whilst electrics and lighting in the boat store finished the internal work planned for phase one.
Phase one comprises a secure weather-tight shell: following fit out by the Club the canoe store will be usable; the club room and changing rooms will only be functional once a follow on fit out contract has been completed to install power, heating, lighting and sewage disposal.
Following on from handover of the shell in December the Club has started work to decorate and fit out the canoe store. We have started to seal the walls with emulsion and to finish the bare concrete floor with floor paint.
Within a week of the contractor handing over the shell the Club had installed a basic CCTV system to monitor the building internally and externally. Further work was undertaken during the rest of December to make the wiring permanent.
The boundaries of the site continue to provide "good sport". Early in the year we extended the new timber and wire mesh fence around the east end of the meadow area. Once the scaffolding was removed from the club house we were able to extend the green wire mesh fence along the west side of the building. The fence erection was undertaken in parallel with a final trim of ground levels along this boundary to level a residual mound along the fence line and to reduce the gradient where the ground drops from wharf level to car park level.
In February we planted a further 100 or more saplings in the hedge, removing a lot of brambles in the process. These have generally taken well.
2014 has been a good year for the hedge with growth now clearly evident: it will not be much longer until we have to start to trim or lay the hedge.
The bulk of the area at the east end of the land has now been sown with meadow mix and the meadow continues to become more established and takes longer to cut each time that is necessary. The final section at the extreme east end has been trimmed ready to be sown in 2015.
