On the 24th May the carriages and pulley wheel were returned to site and with the aid of P.A.C. Welding Ltd, the frame was pieced back together. Paul and Kaz did a great job, despite the heavy rain.
Target frame 1 undergoing welding repair work in the pouring rain
Finally, frame 1 was complete and in working order thirty years after the range closed.
Robin checks out the work on the repaired frame 1
Steve had made some wooden frames (to original military specifications) to slot into the carriages and we couldn’t resist putting them in place to see the whole system in operation.
A four foot wooden target frame (minus the actual target) raised into position
In addition to this, the team have put in a heroic effort cleaning the workshop platform. The timber framed workshop was dismantled many years ago and all that currently remains is the concrete base on which it stood. There was a significant amount of chalk rubble on the workshop platform, which had slumped from the valley side and all of this needed to be removed.
Workshop platform before we started cleaning it up
Workshop platform after cleaning
Amongst the chalk rubble, we found fragments of roof material, guttering and various fixings, from the structure. Olly claimed the best find, however, with one of the original metal shuttered window frames.
One of the original metal shuttered window frames.
This rounds up all the work to take place to date and at this point, I need to thank the small but dedicated team who have made the project a success:
Bill, Diccon, Justin, Matthew, Olly, Steve, Steven, Robin and Roger.
If you have any annecdotes relating to the range or want to ask any questions about the work we are doing, please do get in touch with Justin at:
Steve, Robin, Olly, Diccon and Bill enjoy a cup of tea in the target store. The weather was occasionally so bad we adopted the ‘This is survival’ motto, graffitied onto the wall behind.