Today was make or break for the project. In particular, the issue with the bent pole had to be resolved. Katherine Chimmines, the structural engineer, arrived at Yatton station on the train from London and the installation contractors, Lee and Brian arrived shortly after from Nottingham. It was turning out to be a blazingly hot day.

The design involved inserting a 3m long steel ground tube in the earth and inserting the 15m pole in to it so that the remaining 12m above ground could rotate within the tube. The first issue was that the bottom 3m of the pole was seriously bent so it had to be straightened. Brian and Lee used a chainsaw to cut off timber lengthways along the pole, turning it over with the hair on their lorry as they went. This was a 2 hour job in the 30 degree heat. We then sealed the newly cut wood with fast drying timber sealant.

The next step was to augur a 400mm diameder 3m hole at the installation spot and crane the steel tube in. We then inserted a 3m plastic pipe, closed at the bottom with a pad of ultra low friction material at the base and wrapped at the bottom and top with rubber and more low friction material to produce 2 running bands that held the plastic pipe section snugly within the steel so that it could rotate but would not rock.

 Katherine, Lee and I then hand mixed several buckets of fast setting flowable grout and poured them into the plastic pipe. The 15m mast was then lowered in, pushing the grout up the sides between the pole an the inner pipe wall. We then mixed several further buckets of grout, carefully pouring in the very small gap between the pole and the inside of the plastic pipe, to fill the rest of the void. This meant  avoiding any grout getting any between the outside of the plastic pipe and the inside of the steel tube which would have potentially stopped the structure rotating within the steel ground tube. This was tricky and stressful as we had to mix the grout in several batches and get in through the narrow gaps, quickly before it set.

Once the grout was in, the crane arm held the pole in place while it set. While it was quick drying, it apparently hadn’t set properly when the hair release the pole which meant it shifted slightly within the plastic tube, putting it a degree or 2 off true horizontal. This wasn’t really rectifiable so something we had to live with and actually not particularly noticeable from most directions.

The contractors left the site by early evening, leaving this new feature, standing in the park, looking like a giant sword in the light of the setting sun. Once all the commotion of the install had gone, we watched a steady stream of people come up to the mast to see what it was.