A Bridge Too Far!
A Bridge Too Far!
by: John & Gill
With a 91 year old mother to protect and Lockdown 2 rapidly approaching Gill and I were after a small self isolated project to keep us busy. Most days we walk across the Ebley Spillway bridge and we’d noticed it was looking a bit shabby. “Let’s paint that” we thought.
It’s turned out a bit of a bigger job than we envisaged. It’s 33 metres long, has two sides, each of which has an outside and an inside. So that’s 132 metres of painting split into 32 panels. Each panel consists of three white horizontal bars and 12 metres of black trellis ironwork. Then there’s the moss on the bridge surface and all the large iron support structure. Not such a small job after all. But now after 75 man hours of work we’re over halfway through the job with the south side almost completed. Still on target to complete by the end of lockdown we hope.
The best part has been the amazing support from the many, many passers by. Several regulars see us each day encouraging us as we creep along metre by metre. New volunteers, established volunteers, cyclists, joggers, friends, dog walkers, dredgers and buggies. All life is here! One of our favourites has been the Brazilian lady who told us that in Brazil they use prisoners to do the work we are doing!
If we’d been given a fiver for every time we’ve had a “Forth Bridge” comment we’d be rich. “A job and half that is”, “I’ve got plenty of painting at home that needs doing when you’ve finished here” and many, many “Thank yous”. Our canal is so important to so many people.
