Installation of the Poles

The Poles for the stained glass pieces have been installed and rise like ancient sentinels on the sand dunes at Ainsdale.

The poles arrived as tree trunks and have been transformed  along the way by the team…

from their arrival as raw tree trunk logs..

to  the stripping of the bark by Paul

and the creation of the window cavities by Phill.

Finally they were ready to take on site and erect on top of the sand dunes opposite the ‘Star of Hope’ shipwreck.  We arrived with plenty of man-and-woman-power to unpack the van

and walked up the dunes to assess the best spot for digging in the footings,

checking the sight-line from the beach.

The dunes are fragile, so the posts had to be carried up by hand – taking 8 of us in harness to lift  them up the steep slope one step at a time.

Then the digging could start.

When the holes were deep enough, the poles were guided in and embedded with more sand..

Great views!

and a well deserved lunch break – pies all round!

We left the beautiful poles to overlook the dune path

and await  the installation of the glass…..

watch this space!

Big thanks to the lifting team:  Anna, Emily, Fiona, Phill, Joe, Adam, Sarah and Sian

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Visit to Phill Gregson, Wheelwright

We have been incredibly lucky to have been introduced to the incredibly talented local wheelwright and joiner Phill Gregson.

We visited him at his wood yard in Banks, just outside Southport and Phil gave us a guided tour of his various workshops for working in wood and metal. Our brief visit turned into a fascinating hour or more as we learned about the different woods that each play their part in complex structures such as wheels and archery longbows.

Phill is the fourth generation to work as a wheelwright – his grandfather, now in his eighties, is still working with wood and has started a new venture making these beautiful wooden buckets on traditional lines.

Phill’s experience is such that he is mentoring apprentices as well as continuing his own work in this skilled and ancient field of wood making.

With his knowledge of wood,  his blacksmith and metalworker skills and experience of installing work in public places, he is an ideal adviser and we are thrilled that he will be working with us on this project.