Managers Appointed

It was great this morning to walk down to the castle in the company of these wonderful young people, Holly and Chris Bull, who have been appointed to manage Mingary Castle once it's open. They come from the sort of varied commercial background which makes them perfect for the job of marketing this venture, and for giving a warm welcome to the many guests who will be coming to enjoy both the castle's superb facilities and this lovely area.

As always, the site was buzzing with activity. The cheerful face on the left is John Forsyth, the scaffolder who built the amazing steel structure which has enveloped this place for almost two years -  he's seen here with Ashley Thompson's Chris Dickinson.  John is here to take the bulk of the remaining scaffolding down....

....so, for example, the west and south walls are being revealed in their full glory for the first time.  But, as always seems to happen....

....as something comes down in one place it seems to pop up elsewhere.  Next week the harling of the interior walls in the courtyard begins, so John has erected scaffolding to provide access for the plasterers.

Work on the interiors is concentrated in the north range. The floor tiling is going down in the two main bathrooms - picture shows 'H' working on the attic bathroom - while....

....joiner Martin Theaker, left, has started on the long task of boxing in the exposed beams in the sitting room on the first floor, using oak panels to match the wall panelling.  It's an intricate job: each section requires the fixing of no less than six lengths of oak. They are all numbered as they have to match perfectly, and there is no room for mistakes as the oak cannot be repaired or filled.  Helping him is Sam Chandler, whom we've seen before when he worked with his father, Martin Chandler, building the roofs.

On the attic level, the walls are receiving their top coat. They'll lose none of their brightness as the colour being used is white with just a touch of ochre, which adds a bit of warmth to the light. The three lads working here are all from the Leeds area - from left, Dominic Taylor, Ryan Hatch and Andrew Green. They are all from Mark Galley Decorators Ltd, and we'll be seeing quite a lot of them over the next few weeks.