What a sunny day today - for the first time in 2014 I had to put on sun tan lotion in order not to come back crimson.
Today was going to be a bit of a logistical day, so after an extra appeal for help we were 10 on site, of which no fewer than 6 (!) were brick layers.

John finishes a course of corbelling, while John (there are too many Johns on site....) starts a fresh row of reds on the 90m section.

The second row of corbelling bricks was added to the 80m section - one more to go, to tick this one off - two rows of blues and reds were added to the 90m section, and a row of blues was added to the 100m section. Also on the 100m section, Peter Q spent the day on his hands and knees laying 55 blocks and 146 reds underneath. Due to the varying levels between the original courses of bricks that remain, and the new concrete foundations, the blocks are mostly stood on edge, but on the 100m section had to be laid on their sides, on top of a row of reds. Complicated, but we are now at the right height. A total of 1035 bricks was laid, pretty good, and it just goes to show how the pace of work improves with the better weather. No more sucking the water out of the holes in the blues with a converted hygrometer! We also took up all the scaffolding boards behind the wall, as the water underneath them has gone ! What a change with this beautiful weather.

Have a concrete block...

Unfortunately, as we had to lay the blocks on their sides, we ended up with too many for this section, and 35 of the 90 we had trundled down and stacked had to be taken away again. Backwards, and forwards... then backwards again.

Rod digs out the catch pit by the former waiting room.

Exceptionally today, we were supported by Rod, another Broadway stalwart, who after moving the concrete blocks around somewhat, attacked the old catch pit with vigour and a large sledge hammer. He did better than Brian and yours truly managed with a Hilti, very impressive. Only the bottom two courses remain on this construction; the back wall of it will remain and eventually it will be rebuilt. For the time being it has to come down, as it sticks out and will impede the passage of the dumper we will be using to back fill the platform.

Lunch time at last! Rod, Bob and Peter enjoy the sunny south at CRC.

At 1pm we downed tools and pulled out the chairs from the cabin, to enjoy a well deserved half hour in the sun. Best part of the day, that. There was a slight panic as the boxed set of 16 mini Swiss rolls purchased only last week seems to have largely disappeared - where did they go? No one would confess to any knowledge about their short lived fate, all heads turned into another direction.

It's a very long pipe...

After lunch Fairview came with a supply of drain pipes, as well as 5tons of sand. I think it is fair to say that John O has more or less single handedly shoveled the previous 5ton pile into the mixer, added cement from 25Kg bags he fetched from the container, and then wheeled the mix way down the site in barrow loads until it was all gone. And then Fairview delivered another 5 tons. Well done John !

It's my pipe, and I can smoke if I want to.

Those pipes were rather awkwardly long and there were 37 of them. How to get them to the other end of the site? After we broke up from lunch, we had the bright idea of each taking one pipe on the way back, and soon the pile had shrunk to nothing. The to-ing and fro-ing with long pipes did lead to a few 'Laurel and Hardy' type moments though. Ask a a man with a long pipe over his shoulder a question, and he will instinctively turn round :-)

A development today was that we have now completely cleared the rear of the first 70 meters of new wall, and started laying the drainage pipes that lie at the bottom of the rear, feeding the cross pipes that peep out at the front every 10 meters. Using scaffolding boards we boxed in the pipes, ready to receive pea gravel. This will be repeated at a second level; then the rear of the platform will be built up with crushed concrete in layers of 9 inches each. At the current rate of progress, it looks as if we will start doing this in May. During this time, brick laying will stop, while we drive up and down the foundations and behind the wall with a small dumper.

The southern end of the new platform today.

The picture above shows the new drainage pipe boxed in, ready to receive pea gravel.

Finally we received a visit today from BBC Radio Gloucester. They came to do a small report on our activities, and Bob Stark and yours truly were interviewed.

Bob Stark and the Radio Gloucester interviewer, under the famous races poster.

If I can find out when it will go on the air, I will blog it.