The structural engineer’s concerns about the bouncy floor upstairs led to the very difficult decision to take down the rather unstable lath and plaster ceiling. A good decision in the end, as the beams supporting the floor above were the half the thickness they should be, hence the bounce and we can now feel confident that the floor will safely support a crowd of creatives creating. The resulting debris from the 100 year old ceiling being taken down was temporarily stacked and stashed on the back patio until the skip arrived. 

To save a few pennies in the runaway budget, we took up the job of transferring the sooty wood and plaster mountain to the skip ourselves. Messy, muscle-making work but happy we did. Mid filling yet another barrow, something stood out of the rubble. Looking closer, emerging from the thick dirt, a tiny two inch figure of a baby.

A little research established it is an early celluloid ‘kewpie’ doll. Likely dropped by a small child through a gap in the floorboards. How it survived being buried amongst a ton of bricks and shovelled back and forth is something and quite the achievement.  A metaphor for surviving against the odds, a little piece of incredible resilience. It will be given a new home in the therapy space where visitors can ponder its mysterious story.