12th June 2015
If you are not familiar with the magnificent work, done entirely by volunteers, at Staveley Town Lock, click here to get the story so far.
The concrete was due at noon, but at 11.30, the last of the shuttering was still being positioned round the towpath side paddle culvert.
The massive boom of the concrete pump was swung out …..
….. in order to lay the base for a continuation of the towpath side washwall.
However, it could not stretch quite enough.
No problem – Denis was at hand. The concrete was poured into the bucket …..
….. and then emptied into the shuttered space.
Dave Kiddy then got to work with the vibrator to remove trapped air.
Unfortunately, some concrete was spilled; but George was on hand to shovel it up, whilst Terry supervised.
At the lock itself, Ivan, Paul and Ralph had been painting the wooden shuttering …..
….. with this stuff. It stops the concrete from sticking to the shuttering, so that it can be removed when the concrete has set.
This gentleman has come to every one of our pours. He drives the pump and operates it with the remote control round his waist. You will see his distinctive orange overalls in lots of our concrete pour photos.
Mr Kiddy always does a few Tai Chi moves to get himself mentally and physically prepared.
The surround of the offside paddle culvert has just been poured. The loose blocks are there to hold up the shuttering. They will be removed later.
Now it’s on to the lock itself.
When it gets going, the concrete comes out a quite a rate.
(What are Terry and George up to now?)
There has to be very careful cooperation between the pump operator and the person directing the spout. This is why it is operated by remote control, shouting and hand signals can not always be understood.
Terry and George have brought the generator and vibrator round.
No matter how often you see it, you can not fail to be impressed by the machinery.
The pump carries no concrete. This is poured into it from trucks.
As you can see, the trucks come thick and fast. Besides these three, there was one queuing and one pouring.
Concrete is massively expensive, this pour cost several thousand pounds.
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