Those Friends and visitors who have been to the Crater in the last year or so will have seen that the Labyrinth Panels now need serious care and attention. They are over six years old and although they have lasted brilliantly, they have had to endure the extremes of Somme weather, sometimes 40-degree Celsius heat and minus 10-degree cold and frost, as well as the harsh bright sunlight in the open fields bleaching out some of the pictures and damaging the text.
Thanks to a very generous bequest made specifically for the refurbishment of the Labyrinth Panels, we have just completed the first stage of renewal. At the beginning of February, Friends Richard and Sam Miller of Symbius Urban, the company which made the original panels, came over to the Crater with replacement legs which they then fitted in only a couple of days. David Thomson and Iain Fry removed the existing panels and wooden legs (many of which were rotten through at ground level) making space for Richard and Sam to auger new holes and fix the new metal posts in place with fast setting cement.
Cyrille Delplanque did a wonderful job beforehand liaising and organising our supply of post cement in readiness for the task. He also came out to help with the really hard work at the Crater on the day. Julie Thomson broadcast a Facebook Livestream as the posts were being fitted. A magnificent effort from everyone, especially Richard and Sam, and we are pleased to say it all went very smoothly.
The existing panels will be refitted to the new posts before we make a start on the second and final stage of having refurbished panel tops made ready for installation over the Working Weekend.
IF
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