Ashless kindly organised a revisit here, we'd been a little while back but only did half the place. CarpetPaul, NobodyGirl and Kaputnik were coming for the first time.
I'm an impatient sod at the best of times, and several hours before we were due to meet, I was inching for the off. So I decided to go early and meet them inside. I arrived and took a wander, and had a good look around. The last time i was there, I didn't see a lot of the exterior - found a route into the site, then building access and was in. This time I wanted to have a good look round. So I had a stroll - there was just enough moon light for me to see. Certainly enough for me to get a good look at the security building from behind a hedge
I was a little on edge, wandering about in the middle of the night, lacking sleep and running on caffeine, then I heard a silibant voice whisper in my ear! Heart pounding, massive adrenaline rush as I spun round to confront whoever had whispered behind me. Unsurprisingly there was no-one there, it was just my over-active imagination
Still, I had a nice wander around the grounds and took a good look at everything. Then I popped inside and started to nose about near the access whilst waiting for the others.
I went into the main hall (which I managed to miss last time) to look at the Christmas decorations. At which point my torch bulb went, leaving me reliant on my head torch only
Stage right
Above the stage. These beams are a little springy, but are safe enough to walk on. Lot of little wheels for taking the cables that the scenery would have been attached to.
The others arrived shortly after this although there was no sign of Kaputnik. So I took them into the hall and they had a look round. After about 30 minutes Kaputnik called and I managed to talk him into the site and upto the access point, without running into any security
So now we were five.
And we continued the exploration
The oft photographed pack of Players Number 6
The projector reel cabinet
A wander through to admin took us to the safe, sadly locked.
A bank note counting machine?
Adding machine
Key rack
My Gran has one of these
Found in the kitchen by the Superintendent's office
Admin stairs
Random coat hanger
Top of one of the lift shafts. The winch engine, complete with instruction manuals. Bloody frosted glass window deprived me of a view!
Colourful window
In the roof space above on of the male dormitories. Ashless peeking down into the bathroom - the dirty boy.
Guestbook
Stairs in The Lawns
In the basement of The Lawns
Lawns Bedroom
The shop
Arkwright's Till
Typewriter with the longest carriage in the world!
A rather nasty colour scheme
This tower had no glass in the window. Ashless admiring the view
Bathroom
Electric Bill poster
Laundry complex chimney. Just crying out to be climbed.
Dusty bottles
It was around this point that things deviated from the plan. I entered the next building, followed by Ashless - when we heard a voice not belonging to one of the group. We'd been spotted. Bugger.
We waited, but it seemed that Ashless and I were in the clear. However, Kaputnik, Nobodygirl and Carpetpaul had been busted and had been given their marching orders.
So after a hasty phonecall, Ashless and I finished the laundry area, a tunnel and the nurses home at high speed.
A collection of phones
Engineering workshop
Big fat electrical terminals
Great tiling in the stairwell
Groundfloor bedroom in the Nurses Home. Note the metal screens - these cover all the doors and windows.
The roof space
A battery of batteries
Time was pressing on, and the others were waiting at the pub, so we missed out Cameron House, the water tower and the church. On the way out I spotted this building. Doesn't seem to be part of the main site and isn't listed on any of the plans I've seen. Any idea what it is? It's on the lane right by the the north security hut.
Also I didn't get round to checking the former isolation hospital - anyone know if that's still empty?
It was an excellent day - many laughs, a great site to explore and fantastic weather! All rounded off with a drink in the pub at the close.
