Three Pigeons Post: Small group Session Sunday 9 August: Topping Out

According to Wikipedia The practice of "topping out" a new building can be traced to the ancient Scandinavian religious rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction. Long an important component of timber frame building, it migrated initially to England and Northern Europe, thence to the Americas. A tree or leafy branch is placed on the topmost wood or iron beam, often with flags and streamers tied to it. A toast is usually drunk and sometimes workers are treated to a meal. In masonry construction the rite celebrates the bedding of the last block or brick.

Today’s small group session was literally headline-grabbing as we completed the new slate roof of the Insect Hotel and carried it, coffin like, down the Thames path, to it’s new position atop The Three Pigeons Insect Hotel.

Whilst finishing and placing the roof was the dramatic highlight of this week’s Three Pigeon’s Community Mission, there was plenty of other work done to maintain and improve the plot:

We welcomed new GoodGym member Rositsa who immediately got to work cutting canes to size to fill empty plastic BOL salad pots. These will be slotted into the Insect Hotel to provide homes and ‘nurseries’ for insects such as solitary bees.

Harry removed the temporary roof, put the final touches to the construction of the new roof and secured it in place. He also supervised the levelling of the whole Hotel, where pre-cut blocks were inserted underneath the bottom pallet along the front edge, compensating for the slope of the plot.

Sam, who is covering today’s activities for Richmond’s online newspaper Nub News, painted the inside of the roof and the top with white masonry paint. https://richmond.nub.news

JP spread slow release plant food across the whole bed and watered it in to activate the granules. The Pro-Grow used was donated by Veolia and is an organic ‘recycled’ fertilizer created from garden waste collected from household gardens and public. A holey bucket hampered the watering but many hands came to help at the end to make light work of completing the task.

Jane and Salwa took up scissors and secateurs, creating additional ‘carpet coils’ for the Insect Hotel and then did a great job of deadheading the Sweet William.

Monika added the final coat of red paint to the GoodGym Chair. It is looking great. We just need to figure out what to do with it.

Anita photographed, weeded and collected stones from across the bed, filing plastic plant pots, which will be buried to create more ‘soak away’ points next to key plants.

And although completion of the new slate roof was an incredible achievement, it was Richmond GoodGymer John who stole the show, passing by on his way to play Bicycle Polo in Ham, kilt-clad and atop a Penny Farthing.