College of West Anglia Students Begin Chapel Restoration Work - Starting with Door Repairs

 

Danny working on Temp Door 2

Taleyna Fletcher

 

Danny Working on Temporary Door 1

Taleyna Fletcher

 

Damaged Chapel Door

Taleyna Fletcher

 

Temporary door in progress

Taleyna Fletcher

 

Boarded Up door

Taleyna Fletcher

CWA carpentry students get to work on historic door repairs

One of the areas of the chapel on Mount Pleasant Road that was identified as being in need of urgent attention, was the C19th side entrance door.

Damage caused by vandalism and general wear and tear meant that the original side door of this grade II listed building was in desperate need of repair. In January this year, carpentry student Danny Nichols was tasked with the first stage of the work – constructing a temporary replacement door which will be installed whilst the repairs to the original door are undertaken.

Danny who lives nearby in Walsoken, is currently studying Carpentry Level II at CWA. He started the course in September last year and is due to finish in June. Danny has already learnt a lot from his dad who is also a carpenter, but working on the construction of the temporary door was a bit different than anything he’d done before. Making a bespoke door for a historic building that had unusual dimensions, curves and odd angles is proving to be a new challenge. Danny explained how he had to make a template to get the angle at the top of the door exactly right.

Under the close supervision of course director Michael Heathcote, we look forward to seeing the temporary door in place soon and repair works to the original door underway in the next few weeks. Repairs to the original door will be undertaken sympathetically to retain the character of the building, reusing the original fixtures and fittings where possible and using a specialist glass manufactured in Kings Lynn which will be more suited to the door.

More updates to follow…