THE PREFAB UNSPROUTS
When I arrived at the Museum the other day I was greeted by the sight of Peter Murphy booted and suited in that he was wearing an anti-contamination suit, gloves and mask. My first thought was, is it to stop us contaminating Peter? Or is it to stop Peter contaminating us? But the fact was that he was stripping down the prefab that had been on the site for many years and was used as a storeroom.
Peter then shouted at me not to come too close because of the risk from the asbestos, so we communicated from a distance. Having known Peter as a friend for some nearly thirty years now I have found that this is the best way to talk to Peter. My mind went back some twenty-five years when Peter and myself with others (?) stripped down the prefab. It was in a factory compound at Perry Barr. Legend has it that BaMMOT had bought the prefab for a fiver; considering that the building was to last for another twenty-five years then I think that the prefab was the best fiver spent by BaMMOT!
I was looking at the film/photos I took of the prefab in Perry Barr before we stripped it down. In the foreground is Peter's bike with the yellow articulated trailer that used to be fitted to the bike. Peter kept anything and everything in that trailer. It is my belief that if Peter could have fitted a kitchen sink in the trailer he would have. How the stripped-down prefab got to the Museum I do not know; I suspect that Peter put it into his yellow trailer and moved it to the site, till proved otherwise.
The job of erecting the prefab at the Museum was given/volunteered/forced to the 1685 Group. It has to be said in favour of the 1685 Group that it is only because we need the space that is occupied by the prefab, I believe that the prefab would have stood for a few more years yet, ugly as it is. (The prefab, not the 1685 Group!)
It has always been my rule regarding the Museum that if it moves film/photograph it, and even if it does not move film/photograph it, so I had a look at the film/photos I took of the 1685 Group erecting the prefab. Apart from an element of Casey's Court, the 1685 Group appear to be attacking the prefab with wire brushes, paint brushes, and pots of paint. The best is a photo of Barry Ware working on the prefab, being watched intently by the white cat that frequented the site at the time.
Meanwhile back in 2005 and the last piece of asbestos had been placed into the sealed container. I was then that I was able get a view of the framework of the building. The uprights were in a good condition, but sadly were the framework touched the concrete in parts were (like myself) knackered, in that it was not steelwork more as rustwork. Having said that, it would have been fixable. Just before I left, my last view was of Peter M, Maurice C, Phil I, Mike D, all taking apart what remained of the prefab. I have been told that the roof struts are in a good condition and there are plans to put it to a good use in the future, so that what remains of the prefab will live on in one form or another. An estimate is that the prefab was about sixty years old and had very little done to it in the way of maintenance over the twenty-five years. The only time I can remember anything being done to it is when part of the roof decided to part company with the rest of the building and a repair was done.
Robert Deloyde
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