Super Heroes take a Pew!

By a chance conversation, the removal of pews at Farnham Spire Church was mentioned.

Having made contact with Annette Saville, the administrator, the L&B was sold to her as a beneficiary. As a steam buff she was most impressed by our progress.

On offer were: 5 x 16 ft 3 in pews, 4 x 9 ft 9 in pews plus lots of other panels and lengths of wood. This gave us: 14 x solid 6 ft seats, 14 x panel backs and 14 x 6ft prayerbook shelves.

All the shorter lengths and extra wood will be of use and all were close-grained pine circa 1870.

A professional carpenter had removed the ends leaving us to unfix from the floor, break apart and move to a working area. The backs were all fixed to the seats every 2 feet by 3-inch brass screws. Age and heat over the years made them difficult to remove and an impact screwdriver was needed on most of them.

The wood was cut to size (6 ft) and stacked then all had to be moved to another area to clear space for new chairs. Due to church constraints, we worked 3 hours on Friday 6th March, 8 hours on Monday 9th followed by 1 1/2 hours to load the van on Friday March 13th.

Saturday 14th March saw us en-route to Colchester in the Sprinter when, after a tour of the workshop with Messrs. Ely, we unloaded the van. Good stuff according to Dave Ely.

So who are the superheroes? 

The Surrey Support Group for raising the money; Jan and Phil for co-ordinating the committee who gave permission to spend the money; Alan Wey and Dave Rush, a friend with a portable circular saw and the technology; Hugh Pearce for hiring the Sprinter, loading, driving and unloading; also my 79-year-old brother for helping load; Keith, a volunteer at the church who also gave us invaluable help. 

We made a £200 donation for the wood and paid just under £200 for van hire and fuel.

As recompence I would like to claim the Richard Bullock Wood Moving Award Certificate, happy days,

Peter B. Jones (phew!)

PS. Dave Ely said carriages are 68 inches approx wide. 6 ft lengths give a working margin.
PPS. Sprinter was a Mercedes 3 1/2 tonner van
PPPS. My wife Natalie's friends say I should not be doing this sort of thing at my age. Moving wood, not the writing!