News
Mast repair
The mast was replaced today. Over the next two days the mechanism will be re-assembled. The plan is for the Timeball to be working by Wednesday 13th October.
Opening
We are not able to open for safety reasons whilst the building is clad in scaffolding. It is planned to remove the scaffolding in early December. Therefore we will not be able to open for the October half term, 24th-29th October.
We next plan to open on New Year’s Day 2022 from 1130-1430. We will of course have a commentary and countdown to midnight on New Year’s Eve this year. We will have a more formal re-opening at Easter 2022.
A new mast has been fabricated and fitted out. It is ready to fit to the Timeball Tower.
It was planned to fit the new mast on Tuesday 5th October. Due to the weather forecast this option has been cancelled. The crane will be in position from 0800 on Monday 11th October ready for replacing the mast.
Work has started to refurbish the exterior of the Timeball Tower. The rear courtyard has been paved and proper drainage installed. This should alleviate flooding and damp penetration in the rear ground floor.
Scaffolding was erected in the first week of August. This is to facilitate the mast replacement and roof repairs. The newly fabricated mast was sent to Gillett & Johnston in mid-Julyht ago to fit the moving parts which to connect to the raising/lowering mechanism. It is not expected to be ready for a few weeks. We hope that the new mast will be in place by early September. The whole mast replacement costs are in the region of £60K.
Whilst the scaffolding is erected work will be undertaken to re-slate and repair the roof. Essential exterior and some internal damp reduction measures will also be put in place. When further funding is available a comprehensive restoration of the exterior of the tower will be undertaken. The building is 201 years old and is showing its age.
Accordingly, the Timeball will not open this summer season.
However, we do plan that we open for the week of the October school half term (Saturday 23rd October to Sunday 31st October). Our next important event would be to open New Years Eve & Day. The New Year’s eve drop will have commentary to celebrate the 167th anniversary of the first Timeball drop.
Our income has been severely impacted due to the pandemic closure.
The Deal Museum Trust are seeking to raise funds to replace our lost revenue and assist our landlord, Dover District Council, to cover some of the costs of the replacement of the Timeball mast. We are looking to raise £10K. For details of hown to make a donation please see our website - www.dealtimeball.co.uk OR our Facebook page - Deal Timeball Tower.
The situation today is that a new mast, constructed in mild steel, is being manufactured in Deal. After manufacture, it has to be sent to Gillett & Johnston, Clockmakers, to install various moving parts and set the Timeball mechanism to work. We are hopeful this should be completed by the end of next month. Once we are past the mast replacement state, the TBT will remain completely scaffolded, ready to start work on the outside.
A full survey has been carried out on the 201 year old building which has highlighted that damp is trapped between the external rendering and internal plastering. Both the materials used in the past are totally unsuitable. The present plan is to remove the external rendering and some of the internal plasterwork to get the building to breathe and get to the worst areas of damp. Other measures will be put in place to increase internal ventilation especially out of season. It may be that the render is not replaced but left to breathe and depending on the state of the brickwork, left bare.
There is a long list of defects but the key items are to replace the mast, cure any roof leaks and make a start on solving the damp issues. The courtyard at the back will be worked on to remove one of the sources of damp. At present, we plan to open in mid-August. We should be able to open with the scaffolding up but not before the ball has been set to work and the upper floor internal scaffolding removed.
We are very keen to open this season even for a brief period. We are committed (tbc) to participate in Heritage Open Day on Saturday 18th September. Our next important key event is the New Year Timeball Drop.
The severely corroded Timeball mast was removed on 16 December 2020. Due to the Covid lockdown, no progress has been made in evaluating the necessary repair action. The most likely option is to manufacture a replacement mast.
It is planned to scaffold the Timeball building in the spring for repairs to the 200 year old structure. This will also include a complete external repaint. It is hoped the building works should be completed along with the mast replacement by early summer. Accordingly, we hope to re-open in early summer on completion of these works.
The mast replacement will be a significant cost which we will share with DDC. As yet we do not know how much it will cost but we believe it will be considerably in excess of £10,000.
Should you wish to make a donation please send it by post to The Treasurer, Deal Museum Trust, Timeball Tower, Victoria Parade DEAL CT14 7BP. Cheques should be payable to Deal Museum Trust. If you are a UK tax payer, it would be very helpful if you would sign our form for Gift Aid - which enhances your donation by 25% - and include it with your donation cheque. The Gift Aid form can be accessed here. Should you have difficulty downloading the form please use the Contact Us link to ask for a form and we will e-mail one to you.
We were awarded a TripAdvisor certificate of Excellence for 2019, so now there is even more reason to visit us.
