Scout Hall closure this week

A reminder of the story we ran earlier about the closure of the Scout & Guide Hall this week:

The Scout & Guide Hall will be closed this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (April 22nd – 24th) as new radiators are being installed.

It has been said that the existing radiators are very old – indeed, it was even suggested that they may be original with the building although it's hard to imagine Primitive Methodists focusing on the comfort of central heating. The building was a Primitive Methodist chapel built in 1871 and was in use as a chapel until the 1930s.

A little historical research backs up the likelihood that the radiators in the building are much more modern.

Perhaps the bitter cold of a north Russian winter first gave a wonderful incentive to the Polish-born Russian businessman, Franz San Galli, to invent the heating radiator in St Petersburg between 1855-1857, if only to thaw out his vodka.

His invention was taken up by the wealthy Victorians as the 'must have' of the day, although the radiator installation boom in Britain only really took off during the early 20th century.

There are known examples of earlier radiator development in the 1830's in the United States but the concept we see today is mostly based on designs by the Americans, Joseph Nason and Robert Briggs in around 1863, with later design additions of the cast iron 'Bundy Loop' by another American, Nelson H Bundy in 1872. All the radiators of those days were run by steam, rather than hot water as today.

Whatever the age of the old Scout & Guide Hall radiators, it's likely the newly installed system will make the hall all the more comfortable for its many users. In the meantime, Rod and Chris Cottrell apologise for any inconvenience during the 3-day closure this week.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.