Cotswold Playhouse

On Friday I am ashamed to say I lost my temper.  I shouted down the phone to a lady at Npower, the electricity supplier to the Playhouse.  Or more precisely, the non-supplier.   

I am sure she is a very nice lady, but I completely lost my rag when she told me that we could not have our electricity supply restored for several more weeks, despite the fact that the same lady had told Crossleigh, the builders, on 16th January that it would be restored within 15 working days.  When I asked her why, she said that (a) we had not signed the Connection Agreement (a document it transpired we had never received), (b) a check has been carried out on the credit worthiness of the Cotswold Players’ honorary treasurer (why?) and (c), after (a) and (b) have been carried out, the work to reconnect us is issued to their meter installers who have a 12 day lead time.    After some pleadings that were clearly not going to get me anywhere, I asked her if I could speak to a Manager.  “I am a Manager” she replied, which rather took the wind out of my sails.  

After a pause at my end of the line while I gathered my thoughts, I asked her if I could speak to her manager and, after taking my number, she said that someone will ring me back.  Sure enough within 2 minutes I received a call from a very polite gentlemen, by which time I had recovered some, but not all, of my composure.   I recounted to him our desperate need to have electricity restored to the theatre and asked him why we could not have our supply back.  He reiterated what the lady had told me, in particular the fact that nothing could be done until we had signed the agreement.  When I told him we had never received it, he faxed it to me there and then, I signed it and faxed it back. 

He then told me that our new supply (we consider it a reconnection of an existing supply, not a new one) would have to be registered with MPAS, Meter Point Administration Service, which takes a few days and only then is it handed over to the meter installers, and their lead time is quite a few days.  However, I got the impression from him that he would do what he could to speed up the process.   I thanked him and said that I am sure he will do what he can but if the supply is not restored by 8th February I would make one hell of a stink in the media.  And I meant it.  

Watch this space. 

The weather since Christmas as you all know has not been very good.  Even when there is a gentle breeze all over Gloucestershire, somehow the geography of Parliament Street, Stroud, seems to conjure up a howling gale that whips around the Playhouse building.  On 2 occasions in the past 3 weeks, a section of the newly laid blockwork has been blown down, on one occasion narrowly missing the brickies.  The rain hasn’t helped either.  This is frustrating for those of us from the Cotswold Players who are willing the  work to finish, but is even more frustrating for Crossleighs, the builders who want to get the job done as soon as we do.   The following photo was taken on 22nd January and shows that there is not far to go before the blockwork is up to the top of the steel columns.  Fingers crossed for fine weather for the next few days.  The crane in the photograph is to lift into positionthe steel crossbeams that are to support the roof .  Unfortuantely, I had to leave site before the lift began.

The return of our electricity supply comes ever closer.   The new cable has been installed at vast expense and is live.  We now await the man who is to install the meter and then, wow, we have the power.  The big clean up can commence.  It could be tomorrow or in a months time.  We are in the hands of npower, bless them.

Although the last of the reinfoced concrete floor beams were lifted into place before Christmas, the suppliers could not grout them in until last week because of the frosty weather.   This has had a knock-on effect on the erection of the upper walls.  If the weather is kind to us the walls should be complete in approximately 3 week’s time.   The following photograph was taken on the floor beams of what will become the dance studio.  A suspended wooden floor will be added in due course.    One day someone will remove the stubborn buddleia that has lurked in the gutter for many years.

The good news is that the electricty supply is to reconnected to the building within the next 2 weeks.  We shall then be able to see how much dust has settled in the old part of the building.  It will be a nightmare cleaning up, a job I am not looking forward to.   The following photo was also taken on 8th Jan and shows little apparent progress since the last blog entry.