On coming back from a fortnights holiday in Italy I tentatively opened up Dave's old studio in Haslingden to see if anything had happened during my absence. I never should have doubted the builders - the place has been stripped of all the rotten plasterwork and upstairs (see photographs) the room is now open to the roof-timbers. It suddenly looks like a quite manageable job. I'm suddenly very conscious of what a big house it is...
In the meantime Margaret has been busy and found 5 plan-chests (donated by Manchester Metropolitan University, where Dave had worked for many years) that will be a godsend when we start the process of returning the work back to the studio from its storage. Speaking of which, I was surprised to find that business rates (totaling nearly £1000) need to be paid for the storage unit. This is a bit of a blow as Trust funds are running low, although there does appear to be an appeals procedure and the possibility of offsetting this additional rates with a reduction from the rates already paid on the empty building. Meanwhile, it means - paperwork.
On Friday I've arranged to visit the builders again; pay a second installment of their fee, and discuss some ideas I've had about improving the storage capacity of the building as well as getting a clearer picture of what the costs will be now that the full extent of the dry rot has been uncovered.
