Wikipedia really is a mine of information, isn’t it?  If you haven’t already looked the title phrase up, let me save you the bother: ‘In building construction ‘Topping Out’ (sometimes referred to as ‘Topping Off’) is a builder’s rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction.  Nowadays the ceremony is often parlayed into a media event for public relations purposes.  After topping out, numerous elements of construction remain, including interior finish and most mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.’  So there you go!  And, of course, this was the exact stage of construction  reached at Tankerville by February 23rd.  A Tuesday.

I love the history behind the simple ceremony we joined with Wates Construction to perform that day within the ‘New Girl.’  The practice of ‘topping out’ can apparently be traced to an ancient Scandinavian religious rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction.  A tree or leafy branch was placed on the topmost wood or iron beam, often with flags and streamers tied to it.  We didn’t do this, but I would have liked to have seen it.  Very, very fitting for ever green Tankerville.

Wikipedia also tells us that a toast is usually drunk and sometimes workers are even treated to a meal. In masonry construction, the rite celebrates the bedding of the last block or brick.  Obviously, this isn’t possible with a modern steel structure like ours.  But it was back in 1889 when the beautiful red-brick ‘Old Girl’ was being built.

Back then, of course, there were no blogs for posting site pictures or to record a date for each stage of the building process, as the NCHS Jubilee book makes clear (p 17-18) : ‘The progress of the building does not seem to have been recorded: we all know that the stone in the side door was laid by the Venerable Archdeacon Emery on May 23rd (there’s serendipity for you), 1889, and it is known from the Church Schools Company’s records that in July, 1889, a grant of £3 was made “to provide a treat for the workmen.” …. I am indebted to Mr Leeson [Messers Oliver & Leeson were the architects] for the information that this was the usual custom when the first roof couple was placed into position.’

Luckily for us, not only was there my camera to record events for posterity that day, there was also a lady reporter from The Evening Chronicle and photographers from the Chronicle and Wates too.  For our ‘Topping Out’ ceremony, as per Wikipedia’s definition, was also partly planned as a media event for public relations purposes.

The initial idea for our metal structure was to have a pupil screwing in the very last bolt, but, in the end, something much more creative involving the whole school was decided upon.  Janice Graves, NHSG Marketing Manager, dreamed up the novel idea of every year group from Year 6 upwards choosing a quotation or saying which their Forum Rep would write for them on a steel beam painted white especially for the occasion.  As Head of Year 9, I was really proud of my year group for the message they voted for which was written on the beam for us by Cara Blight: ‘Many hands build a house; many hearts build a school.’  This same honour was also bestowed on Jim Heaton, our retiring caretaker, representing the support staff and on two members of the teaching staff who are also ‘Old Girls’ (Helen Harrison, Church High, and Julie Bowman, Central High) representing the Alumnae.  Wates were of course represented by Nick White, Project Manager.  Our ‘Topping Out’ party, plus Evening Chronicle reporter Hannah Graham and two photographers, all met up in the Wates’ Site Office Meeting Room in Westward House to put on our PPE kit.

So how did I end up being there, do I hear you say?  Because I asked if I could.  I learned well from ex-colleague, Helen McLean, whose favourite saying I always remember being ‘Shy bairns get nowt!’  Seriously, it was a kindness on Hilary French’s part for which I was very, very grateful – both personally and also because of this blog.  Just being there on such an historic occasion was a thrill in itself, but the offer extended to me by Christine Sills, one of the architects, to write a message on the beam myself was just the cherry on the cake.

I had to think on my feet as to what to write, but after so long editing the school magazine, there really was only one thing I wanted to say.

The beam will eventually be enclosed within the wall cladding but it is intended that a plaque will mark the site of it for posterity.  For both partner schools, I know it now feels that a little bit of our respective histories are etched forever into the new school structure.  And as memories go, this one ‘topped off’ the day just beautifully.

Ours was a small party, as Wates’ PPE kit supply is not limitless. But, hopefully, everyone watching this video can now feel part of it too.

February 17th was not a typical Wednesday visit to Tankerville on a number of counts.  Firstly it was half-term week but, as at Christmas, I was determined not to break the regular routine I had established.  Secondly, I was also very curious to make an extra visit on my way there.  The tone of this week had already been set the week before when the first ‘Journal’ advert for the sale of four ex-Central High buildings on the Eskdale site was discovered in the NHSG staff-room at break-time – to greatly differing reactions, as you might imagine.

The Brandling buildings (the modern Dance Studio, Sports Hall and Music & Drama Block) will be kept on as part of Newcastle High School for Girls after the move back to Tankerville.  However, the four ex-Central High buildings on or near Eskdale Terrace are now all surplus to requirements (the Main Building, Art Studio in the old synagogue, Modern Languages School in Hiley House and English School on the corner of Eslington Road opposite Jesmond Metro Station).  We were informed in the ‘Week Ahead’ that the buildings would be open for viewings on Tuesday and Wednesday, so a team of wild horses wouldn’t have stopped me hopping on the Metro to Jesmond that day, despite the fact it was mizzly and drizzly – again!

It was odd seeing all the doors open and all of the lights on during a holiday, even though this school rarely seems to stop; equally strange, but, also most interesting, was engaging in conversation with a team of four very helpful estate-agents from Sanderson Weatherall in Reception.  They were stationed there to take interested parties on tours of the various buildings, but were also very happy to provide a copy of the sales brochure for the archives.

The Eskdale site finally being put on the market was an important landmark; the return to Tankerville now felt an awful lot nearer.  I set off up the road again with a real spring in my step now – despite the spitting rain.  Turning the corner into Tankerville, I saw straight-away that the work on the old building roof was progressing well.  The rain didn’t seem to be causing the roofers any problems at all.

Luckily, my raised spirits served to inure me against the huge disappointment caused by ‘untypical Wednesday’ event number three today: Peter Wilson, the Wates Gateman, was no-where to be seen!  I was therefore forced to resort to my ‘early-days’ technique of pushing the camera lens through the metal mesh of the gates.  This thankfully worked well enough for me to be able to record that the concrete-board strips were now in place all around the new-build.

I almost left it at that, feeling I had already accomplished quite a lot, but decided to wander on up to take a look at the second site access.  There was still no escape from the wire-mesh, but I was so glad I did.

Not only was it possible from this gate to see the huge progress made in a week on the new road surface in front of the building – which a small steam-roller was now in the process of flattening out – the north side of the structure was clearly abuzz with activity too.

A bright red maniscopic fork lift truck was being manoeuvred about to deliver a series of large packages of a square-shaped, white building material up onto the roof.  This was a fascinating process to observe.  The reach and accuracy of such a small machine was amazing.

A camera zoom lens is also a wonderful little thing.  In close up it was possible to see that the concrete-board strips on the north side of the new-build had now been covered over with a similar-looking square-shaped material.  And this was all still through the gate!

With the help of Google, Wikipedia and the magnifying function on my computer when I finally got home, I learned that Tyvek (the brand-name of the thick grey covering now being applied to the new-build) is ‘housewrap’.  This is a protective, weather-resistant barrier designed to prevent rain from getting into the wall assembly whilst at the same time allowing water-vapour to pass to the exterior – basically a kind of insulation, I guess.  It will sit behind the ‘siding’ of the building, which in our case will be the copper cladding. After today, I was left in no doubt that the only way is up from now on!

This post is being written on Easter Sunday when the Pope’s Easter message of hope ended with a scripture passage which has always helped me a lot at times of upheaval.  Once again, it is from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah (43.19): ‘See, I am making all things new!’

 

I normally begin these posts by making reference to the Wednesday each series of photographs was taken.  However, as the post dates make clear, pressure of work at the end of the busy Spring Term has meant I’ve fallen quite some way behind events at the moment!  Writing this way does have some benefits though, not least that I am more aware of ‘where the story is heading’ – a luxury we simply don’t have experiencing events in ‘real-time’, of course.

It will also explain why yesterday’s post had a religious feel and why this one will be no different.  Today is ‘Holy Saturday’.  Because of this, I opened today’s post with an image of ‘Heritage Saturday’ at Church High.  I took lots of photos on that day too.  Some were used for the Heritage Magazine: most were just filed away in my archive.  This blog is now allowing me to share memories of the ‘old days’ at the same time as introducing you to the building being ‘made new’.

Sarah Timney created the wonderful Heritage Display in the School Hall which many of us were able to enjoy that day. The stage was set up as everyone who went to Church High will most remember it: the heavy oak table in the centre; the tall Headmistress’ Chair alongside it; the intricately-worked wooden lectern positioned at ‘stage right.’

I’ve always meant to ask whether Sarah chose the place the School Bible was left open at specifically, or whether it was a random page.  I remember thinking at the time Isaiah, Chapter 45 seemed very apt.

As I write this, it is now the Easter Vigil, that time between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Sunday when we remember a world still engulfed in darkness before the stone was rolled away, a time it would have been very hard to remember God’s promise in Isaiah: ‘I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight.’

On site on Wednesday, 10th February, the pictures I took tell me that there wasn’t a lot of building construction going on that day.  However, there was a strong sense of things being straightened out and new access ways created – to both the old building and the new.

Directly in front of me, the new build was not exactly a hive of activity, as it now appeared to have most of its concrete boards in place.

I did however get a friendly wave from the gentleman going up and down on a red contraption adjusting things in the staircase area.

To my left, there seemed to be more activity going on around the new extension to the old building, though my attention was most drawn to a skip in front of me which was full of old red bricks.  I was later to learn from Nick White, the Project Manager, that all bricks removed from the old building during the demolition and re-modelling process were put to use again filling in all the old ‘holes’  (doorways and windows, etc) which were now no longer needed.

The main activity on site today was hard to ignore, however.  Immediately to my right, a large yellow JCB was in the process of laying down lots of gravel-like material.  Peter Wilson informed me that a new road was being created in front of the new building.  This will serve the second site access which has just been created at the Sports Hall end of the site.  At present, this is a temporary access, but an application will ultimately be made to make it permanent.  The aim here is to reduce school bus congestion on Tankerville.

As I left the site, I noticed to my right that more work was underway on what had appeared to me to be the old building’s foundations.

However, closer inspection and an illuminating conversation with Peter put my mind at rest and revealed what was really going on there.  A new concrete access stairway is now being created for the Boiler Room.  The ‘Old Girl’s’ foundations are rock solid after all!

I should never have doubted it, of course, had I remembered the ‘promise’ clearly displayed for anyone who cared to look for it in the Hall on Saturday, June 21st 2014.  It is now ridiculously late/early.  My ‘Easter Vigil’ is nearly over and it will soon be time for us to be reminded of a huge, heavy blockage being ‘magically’ rolled away.  You may not be religious, but, if by any chance you are even a little curious as to what exactly the Church High bible displayed that day, Easter Sunday seems as good a day as any to reveal it to you now:

 

From the street at least, the Tankerville renovation work seemed to have advanced very little from last week.  The pathway in front of the old building remained blocked by colourful red & white road works, the orange digging machine was still in situ and the windows, as usual, variously open, closed, missing or covered by sack-cloth.

However to the left of the building, where the staff car-park used to be, hollow, clanking sounds indicated that scaffolding was being erected yet again.  What for this time?  The roof was my guess.  And I was right.  Ten weeks of roofing work was just about to commence.

The roofline of this section of the building is very special because it retains its original bell tower feature.  The earliest image of the High School building in ‘The Monthly Chronicle’ suggests that the main bell tower, now demolished, was of a similar design to this ‘mini’ one.

However, once I reached the new-build gates and was lead round to the Sports Hall side, it was clear that windows, not roofs, were to be the main talking point of the day.  For the first time there was glass!

The source of the word window is actually a metaphor. It comes to us from the Scandinavian invaders and settlers in the early Middle Ages.  Although there is no record of the exact word they gave us, it was related to Old Norse vindauga (window), a compound word made up of vindr (wind) and auga (eye) reflecting the fact that at one time windows contained no glass. The metaphor ‘wind eye’ is a kenning,  a poetic form beloved by both Norse and Old English poets.  And close up, these particular new ‘wind eyes’ seemed very dark to me.  All became clearer later on when I learned it was tinted glass.

At times in life, often by no choice of our own, we are forced to view things ‘through a glass darkly’, a metaphorical phrase which entered the language via the Bible (Corinthians 13: 12-13) inferring imperfect perception or understanding things ‘only in part’.  It demands a huge leap of faith to trust in something we cannot yet see or to believe that new growth could possibly emerge after the end of things.  We can only know what we see and feel in the here and now.

This post is being written on Good Friday, a reminder of the very darkest of days when the skies turned black at mid-day.  For those who loved dearly at the site of the cross, that must have seemed like the end of the world.  They were only human, frightened and confused.  God’s bigger picture was well beyond their ken.  As Philip Larkin put it in his poem ‘Afternoons’, they could only have been aware that ‘Something [was] pushing them/ To the side of their own lives.’

Or was it not ‘Something’ but Someone?  This morning I watched a fascinating documentary by Kate Bottely on BBC1 called ‘In the Footsteps of Judas‘.  At its end, it too focused on windows and things initially obscured by dark glass.  Laurence Whistler’s ‘Forgiveness Window’ in Moreton Church, Dorset, part of which depicts Judas’ 30 pieces of silver falling to ground where they become flowers , was intensely moving.  As was the fact that this image engraved on the window’s dark glass can only be seen from outside of the church.

Yes, it is true the green playgrounds are playgrounds no more, but as those of you familiar with ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ will know, from before the Dawn of Time, ‘there is a magic deeper still.’