Cotswold Playhouse

On almost the shortest day of the year and a very cold day to boot, the last of the floor beams were lifted into position by an enormous crane.  Unfortunately I had other things to do in the morning and arrived in the early afternoon only to discover that the floor beams had already been lifted into place (that is not strictly speaking true as one of the beams cracked as it was being lifted from the lorry probably because of the cold and a replacement was supposed to be delivered later in the day).   However, I did arrive in time to see the main staircase lifted into position and this is shown in the next photograph.  The reinforced concrete stairs weigh about 4 tons and Mike Ash, Crossleigh’s foreman on site, told me that he had had a restless night worrying about whether or not it would fit.  He needn’t have worried as it slid in like a glove and fitted perfectly.

The next photograph is of the crane which dwarfs the house of our co-operative and understanding neighbours, Dr. and Mrs Turner.

The next photo shows some of the large pneumatic safety air bags that were used in case someone fell during the installation of the floor beams.  These bags are in what will become the lounge and you can see on the right hand side of the photo a part of the seascape mural that was painted on the old lounge wall for the production of Anything Goes earlier in the year.  The concrete floor beams can just be seen at the top of the photo supported on RSJs and will become the floor for the dance studio.

This shows the small petrol driven air pump used for inflating the air bags.