Lancashire Centre
Welcome to the Lancashire Centre Home Page!
To view or download a pdf of the North West & North Wales Centre Diary for 2012 - 2013 click below:..
http://www.ciob.org.uk/sites/ciob.org.uk/files/2012-2013_nwest_diary_pdf_5.9.12.pdf
CALLING ALL CUMBRIANS
C’mon Cumbrians! Where are all you construction professionals? Our current Chairman, Mark Wilkinson had a mission for his term of office to promote and develop CIOB in Cumbria. As you all well know, Cumbria was amalgamated with Lancashire Centre because of relatively low membership and large geographical area of the county. Leyland Golf Club has been our venue of choice for a number of years . Being just off the the M6, it is easily accessible for the by far larger number of Lancastrian members, yet also accessible for Cumbrians – at least those Cumbrians within striking distance of the M6. We have realised of course that an awful lot of Cumbrians still need to drive and hour or an hour and a half to hit the M6 and it’s in deference to those that we’ve held events for you at: Sellafield (alas, no longer a viable venue); North Lakes Hotel, Penrith; WYG offices in Cockermouth (another excellent venue) and last Tuesday, at Westlakes, So – C’mon Cumbrians! What do you want and where do you want it? Tell us and we will do our best to provide – you pay your subs, you are members of an internationally renowned and respected Institute and you NEED CPD. We’ve tried but attendance tells us that we’ve failed so now we need you to tell us. Hazel Yorke and Barbara Brown are our hard working North West CIOB team and their contact details are on the website and on all your CIOB literature. Mark Wilkinson is our Chairman, Barbara Entwistle is our events organiser and Jane Hopwood is a Cumbrian member and Senior Vice-Chairman of the North West Branch. Please, please contact any or all of us – let’s get a bit more interest in and from Cumbria
DOUBLE WHAMMY FOR CUMBRIA & LANCS BRANCH
The famous ‘Entwistle Twins’ (no, not really but they are brother and sister) have both been admitted as Fellows at the March Board of the CIOB Fellowship Committee. They both became Members at the same time last year and will be attending the award ceremony in Englemere in April
Barbara not only joins her brother at the ceremony but also fellow Branch Committee member, Jane Hopwood who was also admitted as a Fellow in March. Barbara and Jane join an elite club of only 52 female Fellows worldwide. When asked if the pair were looking forward to the ceremony, the only thing we could get out of them was ‘think Big Fat Gypsy Weddings in rigger boots’
Congratulations to John, Barbara and Jane
Two promising students received their Certificate of Excellence recently at a CPD held at Leyland Golf Club on 15th November 2011
Both both John Keighley & Robert Marshall pictured above were awarded Certificate's of Excellence in recognition of their outstanding work for the Higher National Certificate in Building Studies at Preston College. We wish them well for their future.
CIOB Cumbria & Lancashire branches visit to Lowther Castle Restoration Project
25 members of Cumbria & Lancashire branch and their guests enjoyed a fascinating visit to the Lowther Castle project on the evening of Tuesday September 8th as the guests of Main Contractors, Patton Heritage.
Patton, based in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, commenced work on the project in April 2011. The Site Manager, Nigel Simpson MCIOB and his colleagues showed the group round the 3 areas of the restoration project.
The castle itself, a substantial ruin and Grade 2* listed is being made safe so that visitors can enjoy the atmosphere whilst walking through the castle to the Stable Courtyard and the restored gardens. Specialist subcontractors, Stirling Stone were on hand to explain how they tackled replacement stone and the type of mortar being used to bed loose stone and point up. Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust is an independent Charity and they employ a Conservation & Heritage Officer to advise on the restoration project and this individual, his subject evidently close to his heart, gave a lively talk on the Philosophy and Technique of the restoration. He made his subject come alive and also gave food for thought on just how much to restore and how much to leave - ‘good and bad intervention’
Andrew Mercer, the Project Director led a brisk stroll through part of the 130 acre gardens. strategically placed sepia photographs giving a flavour of how the gardens looked in their heyday. These badly overgrown gardens, representing 400 years of garden history are being uncovered and restored and you don’t have to be a Monty Don to feel the magic in this place.
Finally, the stable courtyard. Dusk approaching and fully kitted out in PPE, we were allowed on the scaffolding to inspect at close quarters the newly re-slated roofs and the restored stone ‘merlons’ forming the castellation on the roof.
Patton, understandably proud of their ‘Considerate Constructors’ image and partnering with Heritage Skills Initiative, are running a series of training courses – sign me up - This was one of the very best CPD events I have visited and certainly worth a return visit. If you missed this first time around, then you missed a treat - keep a look out for a further visit. In the meantime, look up Lowther Castle on the web, both it and it’s gardens have a fascinating and quite remarkable history and will certainly whet your appetite.
LOWTHER CASTLE & GARDENS LOWTHER, PENRITH, CA10 2HH.
Barbara Brown, Centre Administrator, is available to discuss any events advertised and helps co-ordinate and promote events that are being organised by the branch. You can contact Barbara on Tel: 0845 0263721 or Email: bbrown@ciob.org.uk or 07715627620, CIOB North West, Lancashire Centre, Englemere, Kings Ride, AScot, Berskhire, SL5 7TB.
Mark Wilkinson, Centre Chairman, is available to answer any queries regarding your involvement with the Centre. Please contact him on email: mark.wilkinson@esh.uk.com or tel: 07791 499644.
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