The Boiler House

The members of Risca Male Choir took possession of their new HQ, the former Risca Urban District Council Offices, in March 1988 and started to make repairs and to decorate the building as a conditional requirement of Caerphilly County Borough Council, before it could officially be used, which we did several months later. In addition to the main building, the choir also had possession of several large out-buildings which were built along the back wall of the property, adjacent to the residential back lane. The lease was eventually signed later that year.

In 1991, ‘new’ boilers, that had originally been located in Dan-y-Graig Infant’s school before it was pulled down, were dismantled and then moved and installed, lock, stock and barrel, into one of the large out-buildings. The boilers were rebuilt from scratch by Gordon Holley and a few other helpers. A new roof was also fitted to accommodate the two large ventilation chimneys.

In 2002, the central heating hot water pipes from the boiler room to the main building were found to be leaking due to corrosion having taken place, and so the pipes were disconnected, replaced and repositioned above ground, from the boiler house through the back wall of the main building, rather than underground, by the side door of the building. This undertaking was again arranged and performed by Gordon and his helpers.

In early 2005, the choir was notified that the high wall along the back lane to the property and the end wall of the boiler house were not bonded into each other securely and constituted a danger to persons using the back lane. The high wall had been constructed by building a five foot high normal brick wall on top of a six foot high stone wall. Although we attached temporary security stays to the two walls, they were still not considered satisfactory and so, in September, we sought permission from CCBC for the long high wall to be demolished and the boiler house to be rebuilt, which was duly granted.

In order to minimise the disruption to the roof, this was done by digging appropriate foundations, wheel-barrowing in and pouring tons of concrete and then building the walls of a slightly smaller boiler house inside the existing one. Once the inside walls were at roof height, the overhang of the roof, from the new wall to the old wall, was cut away and the two unstable walls demolished. A ventilation window, made by chorister Mike Briggs, and an entrance door and frame were then fixed in place and all the remaining other out houses, which had been attached to the back wall, were demolished and the space created used for a BBQ site. The external boiler house walls were then rendered and finished off by Alan Davis. The building not only houses the two large boilers but also has room for the storage of other building materials.

Whilst removing the brick wall from the stone wall, several metal posts were discovered to be embedded in the top of the stone wall. These were subsequently cleaned up, painted and threaded with fencing wire to complete a secure boundary wall. The whole process of this renovation and rebuild was ably managed and controlled by Gordon ably assisted by Alan Davis, Chris Davies, John Watkins, Lyndon Price and a few other helpers.

A few statistics about the project:-

Once the drawings were prepared (Gwyn Humphries £350) and submitted to the Council and planning approval obtained (£120), the project physically started at the end of January and was officially signed off as ‘completed’ on 26 June 2006. During this period various members worked on 71 separate days giving a total of 1092.50 hours of their time. Hours given by individuals varied anything from a few (3) up to 110, with two members giving a total of 350 each. Needless to say Gordon Holley was one of them.

Overall the total cost of the project amounted to £3958.58. The most costly items of the project were:- skips - £1215; building blocks - £528; concrete - £410; sand - £112 and cement - £158. Fortunately, we were able to obtain a welcome grant of £3000 from Caerphilly County Council towards the cost of the project. The grant was obtained by match-funding by the number of hours worked by the members.