Dear Board/Partners

Thought I would just keep you up to speed regarding a couple of events that has happened this past week at the factory.

The Flood

Our new roof sprung a leak (7th June) big style, but the problem that caused the flooding was not the roofer’s workmanship; it was the 4 blocked guttering drains that caused the problem.
Our whole area (Possilpark) was flooded by a biblical downpour. I can only surmise that our main drains could not handle the deluge, which in turn caused the water to backup and flow into our guttering and then flow under the eve’s and into the factory. This overflow of water caused us serious flooding in the sale room and storage areas. Not much furniture damage was caused but the mess was extensive because of the fallen sodden, ceiling tiles and insulation. We pumped 2,200 litres of water from the factory and had to purchase 96 1200×600 ceiling tiles (£389.00 sorry Paul, accountant). David (Board member) kindly came in and spent three days repairing the damaged ceiling (finished 12th June). He had one of our guys working with him. A big thanks to David (yes we did offer to feed him).

The Break In? (attempted)

I got a call early Sunday morning (11th June) from our next door neighbour Jim (Scrap Yard Owner) to inform me that our new large electrical roller shutter door had been rammed. I came straight to the factory to find unusual aspects of the damage that was done. No scratches on the distorted roller shuttering were found, nor any smashed car lights or bumper debris on the tarmac. The shutter itself was warped but what saved us from any theft was that we have built a stud partition wall and doorway directly behind the shutter. This stopped the shutter from being fully pushed right into the factory.
I informed the Police (Got an incident number) and made the damaged shutter safe. I returned in the afternoon and reinforced the safety aspect with fencing sections and a chain as our roller shutter supplier (Cunningham Shuttering) was not available. The shutter engineers came first thing on Monday (12th) morning and managed to save the upper door area but they needed to replace a dozen sections of the lower electric shutter. I now await their invoice (£343.20) for the call out and repair.

I have spoken with (and copied in) Fiona at Scottish Canals regarding factory insurance. I doubt if we are covered for the water inflow but Fiona will look at the costing of the shutter repair when we get the invoice.
Although this was a problem and a setback, our team of volunteers, CPO’s and NTE put all hands to deck and I can honestly say it was a great team effort to get the place ship shape again. So that’s why I write. This wee flood/break in caused a reaction from our guys/lassies that was personal. They just got their sleeves rolled up and got stuck in as if it was their own property (which it is while they reside here). It showed me that we as a re-offending charity are hitting our goals regularly by getting our clients personally involved and being a part of something that is of purpose.

So it seemed as if a rainbow shone (job satisfaction) at the end of this flood.

PS

Even though this has put us back in opening the factory, the comradery has been at its best among our charges during these two events. A good outcome for Open Gates would be to see the culprits caught for the attempted break in and then given Community Payback Orders so that we could put them through our programme, now that would be something that we would honestly cherish and hope to be successful in.

Speak soon
God Bless