The Story of Williton Footbridge - Part 7 Claire Sheppy MRICS continues the story of this project
With Chris van den Arend having died in December 2010 it fell to John Parsons and John Byfield to see this wonderful project, to return a footbridge to Williton, through to its completion. The weather was very cold – all builders and civil engineers know to avoid pouring concrete in freezing weather – so it looked as if there was no way that the concrete would be poured before Christmas, and the consulting engineers, Cass Hayward, sent a long memo to John Parsons stressing when not to pour concrete. One of the good things about having Cass Hayward as consulting engineers was that John Parsons’s son was their head.
west, and I recorded in my diary that on December 17 there was deep snow just a day after Chris Van den Arend’s funeral. With more falling on December 20, it wasn't until after Christmas that I once again went to Williton to check the levels to make sure the top of the formwork was exactly the right height to take the footbridge base.
West Somerset had some quite deep snow, relatively unusual for the South-
Craning in sections of footbridge, 16 March 2011. Photo: Claire Sheppy
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On Saturday 8 January I went back to Williton where by now the formwork for all four concrete pads was in place and all of the reinforcing cages had been made, so my job was to re-check the levels to ensure all four corners of all four
WSR JOURNAL – WINTER 2021
