Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 11th September, 2023)

Looks like that fantastic building is having some tender loving care….it will be nice when the scaffolding is dismantled though. It’s a sound that rings in your ears not too dis- similar to bag pipes being tuned up. I have to say though the scaffolding is quite a skilful piece of engineering. I wonder who invented it…Impressive photo Dennis to highlight your point...

Having just got up and still a bit sleepy, I thought, on seeing the top of the building before scrolling down, that I was looking at the old red-brick Britannia Bridge School in Lower Ince, before it dawned on my befuddled brain that it was demolished some time ago. But I love these ornate red-brick buildings and am glad we have some left. I feel quite proud when I watch that advert on telly where they feature Library Street

The Chinese invented scaffolding, they used bamboo and still do to this day.
Ive worked on some bamboo scaffolding when I took a offshore drilling tender in to Sembawang shipyard Singapore for a refit, the bamboo was tied together by thin strips of bamboo, it was very springy but it never fell down.

Yes I believe bamboo was used in the construction of the bridge on the River Kwai as well as buildings the POW’s had to live in inside the camps. It is strong stuff.

You're probably right about Meccano Dennis, and the ones who constructed the building further down were brought up playing with Lego bricks.

This building in the years of having become the town hall has had more money spent on it doing essential work and maintenance than it ever had in those years of it being the Mining & Technical College, the councils in charge over the years always kept putting back those essential repairs, and never seemed to have taken heed of the old saying 'for the want of a nail.'

In the Johnny English film on TV last week on location in Hong Kong some scenes were on a multi-storey building being constructed, and they were using Bamboo poles for scaffolding, I've had a web search and they tie these together with nylon strands. I know Bamboo is strong but, if I had to be a few hundred feet up I would rather put my trust in steel poles rather than what are in actual fact dried grass stems.

I have a photograph of my father, grandfather and uncles, building a chapel vestry in 1958. They were standing on scaffolding made of tree trunks - they didn't look sturdy enough for the job, but must have been. Health and Safety would have had a fit!

With all these comments on Bamboo we should have a song about it,
Me Ol' Bamboo: https://youtu.be/bSaago5IT4k?si=AuO_yhMewSxUYn95

Teachers of not all that long ago should have been told that Bamboo canes were meant for supporting garden plants, and not for whacking pupils on the backside, or for rapping their knuckles, and oft times just for the fun of it. Maybe it was a secret fetish of theirs - who knows?

Green freshly cut bamboo is easy to work with but when it dries out its stronger than steel.
Just watch this girl build a house

https://youtu.be/832YKr_VG0c?si=AvKkv7d0UiTP6OY5

Good photo and pleased to see it's being looked after. But I understand that bamboo is to be avoided unless restricted in pots. A recent article reckoned it can be as invasive and destructive as the dreaded Japanese knotweed. Don't know if it's a problem in Wigan though.

Wigan Mick, the girl in the video does a good job, however, she's put the roof on the wrong way round. Her roof would leak, badly.

It's been reported that Bamboo after having been introduced to Gathurst in the 1930s began growing rampantly, though in the 1950s Giant Pandas were introduced and they now number many Sleuths, they are keeping it under control along with help from the flocks of feral Peacocks who peck the young leaves, and the local chippy who are doing a roaring trade using fresh Bamboo shoots in their menu of speciality stir-fry's.