Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Restoration - Week 22

As the heatwave continues we grafted hard at the park again this week, clearing three more full terraces of heavy growth and large deep roots to reveal more of the 1947 East Terracing still in saveable condition. Some serious weeding also required again this week on the restored areas


and we are making a marked difference here now. Had lots of interesting chats with visitors and ground-hoppers this week and am delighted with how much interest there is in the old ground and very thankful for all the supportive messages this month. It really helps when this task seems


insurmountable! As the photo above demonstrates we are again down to the WW2 rubble and ash underneath the weeds and bushes but have yet to discover anything of note. Will bring down the metal detector next month to check through the heaps of rubbish, as requested by one of our


Twitter followers. We have removed 120 buckets of muck from this area alone in the last week and it has been bloody hard work in the hot sun but great exercise! And every hour we spend at Cathkin is saving another wee section for posterity, so it will all eventually be worth it. For now we just need


to keep on going and get this part of the ground back into use and the remaining stonework cleared of moss, re-aligned and filled with whatever stone and red ash we can find to reconstruct the missing concreted terrace step sections and will be starting a 'GoFundMe' page this month to help with the


costs of replacing the terracing and repairing the 6 breaks there are in the old pitch wall, which we still aim to repaint this summer, which will really bring the place back to life. The JJFA have been holding free football coaching for local kids and the park has really felt alive and thriving again


this month, photo above c/o JJFA on Twitter. The Council have been back again helping scrape the latest growth of weeds from the West Terracing and the ground is looking good as the pitch is improving with no football on it and the grass allowed to grow longer. The running track has been


utilised a lot more this close season and I have cleared another 12 feet of the East End of the track, but it's a big job and am only clearing a small section every week as the terraces have priority. I
am trying to cut the treack back down a few inches to the original level in order for runners and
players to have a safe and solid surface to train on. At the moment the track is still in an awful


condition so please be careful if you are using it! The pitch damage has been repaired and there has been far less antisocial behaviour of late so that's a big plus this summer! Quite proud of CPL's
work at Cathkin Park this week and by the end of the year we should have the place looking 100%


better than it did in january when we started restoring the terracing. Good chatting to Stephen Cameron this week and thanks to him for the photo below of our rather exhausted Exec Producer Simon Weir hard at work in the East Terrace! But the hard work is really paying off now and


the East End of Cathkin will look fantastic once it is finished. However we have a lot of hours of hard work ahead before we can move on to the final section of terracing in the South West Corner which
is looking hellish at the moment and completely overgrown and unsafe to walk on. The photo


below shows how much better this section will look once we get it cleared and re-aligned and all the remaining kerb stones wire brushed and restored. Onwards!!

No comments:

Post a Comment

THE TOMMY BURNS STORY

With the lockdown finally beginning to ease this month, many businesses re-opened but alas our industry still remains in a precarious positi...