New Templar Hub Up and Running!

This week has seen a HUGE leap forward here at our St. Donard’s Priory Templar HQ. Our dispatch operation has moved into the new Hub building – lock, stock and barrel.

This is a massive improvement on before, when our stores and dispatching were spread across three upstairs rooms. It also means that those three rooms are empty and temporarily not needed, paving the way for the next wave of building work as the main Chapter house modernisation and upgrade gets under way.

“The new Hub is a great room to work in,” says our main dispatch worker. “Having everything in the same place makes it so much easier, and I love the sunlight streaming in onto my desk. Not having to run up and down stairs all the time saves a lot of energy too. Which is just as well, as the number of books we’re dispatching now has really shot up.”

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Or, in our case, moving shingle – 15 tons of it! When 18 big dumpy bags were delivered on the road outside the Priory, several of the neighbours thought they’d lost their parking spaces for weeks. But together with a keen extra working brought in for a long day, these were shifted with amazing speed.

Starting with the seating area outside right around the far side of the Lower Chapter House, we worked back, instantly transforming the walkway between the Chapter House and Hub, up past the Magdalene Chapel and into the yard between the Chapel and the Priory building.

The last stones from the final bag just covered the last stretch of the alleyway behind the big old coach doors at the side of the font of the main house.

With all that done, the outside of the whole complex is spick and span, and ready for our first post-lockdown Knighting Ceremony next weekend. As with the Dispatch Hub, our very grateful thanks go once again to every single one of you whose fees, generous donations and purchases have made all this possible. Give yourselves a big pat on the back!

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