The New Club

* On Jan-11 - while Leli Bugeja  carried on with the concrete shuttering, Charlie Bugeja prepared a good number of curved stone pieces and Peter Caruana started on bulding the wall on the side of the main staircase.
* The steel mesh was acquired  cut and placed on top of the precast slabs-this enabled Joe Spiteri and Leli Bugeja to fix the vertical metal plates on the stair steps to be ready for pouring. This equipment was loaned by Peter Caruana. The electricity conduit was as ever laid by Carmel Magro.
* On Jan- 13, 2001- the roof of the intermediate level and the secondary staircase were poured. The precast slabs making up the roof of the Billiard Hall were given a concrete topping of a few inches. A good number of volunteers were present on thisd day even though the weather was somewhat unsettled.

* On Saturday, Jan 31- a consignment of concrete bricks was received. These bricks were needed for work on the Billiard Hall and kitchenette roofs.
* On Monday, Feb.5 - Leli Bugeja began dismantling the wooden shuttering. The work on building the walls of the Archives Hall and the toilets started on this day.
* While brothers Carmel and Joseph Mifsud loaned us the neesssary equipment, they themselves helped, together with Leli Bugeja and Carmel Borg, to pave the way for two large beams along Henrietta Hall to be constructed.
* The work on the hand-sculpted  slabs for the front of the building kept on going. At this stage, however, this work was becoming more difficult because it needed more precision and detail. For example, this one course alone needed 43 corners and 41 corner-recesses which took up to an average of 5 hours per stone slab. For this reason, to those who are not familiar with this type of work, the rate at which the building was progressing might have appeared to have slowed down unnecessarily.
* On March 21-a large amount of steel reinforcing was delivered for use on the construction of two reinforced concrete beams for supporting the roof of the Henrietta  Hall
* On April 3-with the  help of Karmenu Magro, Joe Spiteri, Salvu Magro Karmenu Borg and Martin Formosa, the scaffolding in the principal staircase was erected, the use of which was primarily to reduce the danger to the voluntary-workers. In fact, the club's executive decided on purchasing more equipment to add to the safety already existing even though these volunteer workers are insured agaist all accidents.

* On April 18 - work on the base of the pillars of which there are twelve and four half pillars was started. One should realise that this storey is being built on the Doric style and therefore it involves more fine and intricate work.
*  On April 19 - Joe Spiteri, Charlie Bugeja, Rosmar Farrugia, Nikol Abdilla, David Farrugia, and Joseph Ellul worked on the concrete aspect in preparation for the  beams of the hall.
*  On May 8 - Joe Zerafa completed the course of the "Zokkolo" and with the help of John Spiteri and David Ebejer, the double-backing to this course was also put in place.
*  On May 9 - a consignment or stone blocks was delivered thanks to Joe Zerafa, David Ebejer, Joe  Ellul and Martin Formosa. More work on the scaffolding around the principle  staircase was carried out.
*  On May 12 - Joe Zerafa resumed work on the pricipal façade of the building in preparation  for the laying of the six marble columns of the second storey.
*  On Sunday, May 13 - a good number of votunteers were at hand to help with the work on the principle staircases which incorporates a curved wall - this they did with a sense of good workmanship and dedication. Those involved were: Carmel Caruana, (builder) together with Charlie Bugeja, Salvu Bugeja Micheal Aquilina, Grezzju Farrugia, Michael Cutajar and David Ebejer. On the same day, work got under way on the large beams – Emanuel Grixti, Grezzju Farrugia, Martin Formosa, and Nikol Abdilla were involved. More work was carried out on the bases of the secondary facade.

*  On Wednesday, May16 - a busy day for the volunteers who delivered and unloaded a large consignment of 7" and 9â€� stone blocks. In the aftenoon, this material was lifted onto the roof by crane. Later on that day a Frida forklifter brought the marble bases to the site from storage and they were lifted to their respective locations for laying the next day.
*  On Friday aftetrnoon, under the direction of Innoncent Centorrino, Joe Zerafa and those helping him layed the Doric bases on the six coloumn support pedestals. Two pillar bases of the same façade were also layed.
*  On Sunday, May 20 - work  was carried out on the laying of more pillar bases and also on building the scaffolding of the principal staircase.
*  On Monday, May 21 - Joe Zerafa together with other volunteers resumed work on the facia of the balcony doors and window openings. More scafolding was erected around the stair-case so as to lift higher the supporting structure in order to ensure exigency and security.

*  Between Tuesday 22 and Saturday 2nd June, the principal facade was transformed by extending it to the seventh course. This work was done by Joe Zerafa aided by Joseph Ellul, Nikol Aqiuilina, John Spiteri and Nikol Abdilla.
* On Sunday, June 3 - the  start of a nice and pleasant day, work started early on the curved  well of the staircase. The work on this day was carried out by builder Karmenu Caruana, with the help of Grezzju Farrugia, Micheal Aquilina, Martin Formosa, Michael Cutajar and Nikol Abdilla. Four more courses  of the curved double-wall of the stair-well added.
  Joe Zerafa with the help of the same volunteers worked on and completed the laying of all the Doric bases including those of the secondary façade.More work  related to the large three course beam was carried out by Emanuel Grixti  and Joseph Ellul.
   But when the festive season comes along work will have to be temporarily suspended as it is almost impossible to employ cranes and also because of the dusty operations involved. But it is worth mentioning that the steel beams werte finished by a group of youths who performed good work together with Joseph Ellul  and Michael Cutajar. The Committee is really grateful to all these volunteers who work whole days in difficult conditions and also to Tony Vella and Mario Camilleri for the donation of building materials and tools. On behalf of our Society we wish to thank all the persons involved on this remarkable project. Happy feast to everyone.

  Soon after 15th August 2001, the biggest and most important day in the Qrendi calendar, the Central Committee decided to resume work on the new club premises.
   On Tuesday, September 18, at Gawhra Hall a meeting was convened for all those individuals involved in the actual building of this magnificent edifice. Needless to say, for this meeting there was present Innocent Centorrino1 our clever and well known Architectural Designer.
   During the meeting, those present were briefed about the nature of the work planned for the next phase together with the administrative work involved. A discussion then ensued centering around safety on the job, the ordering of materials and other topics related to this ambitious project.

   As from September 19, the orders for more stone blocks from the quarry were prepared together with the preparation for transferring to the site a number of large stone blocks which were stored on the club's property adjacent to Gawhra Hall.
 At around 8.00pm, club members loaded a number of stone blocks on to pallets ready to be transported from Gawhra Hall to the site of the new club premises
   In fact, on Tuesday, September 25 and with the aid of a Frida Transport forklifter. the stone blocks on pallets were loaded and transported to the site from Gawhra Hall on Felix' Zerafa's truck.
   The following day Wednesday. the crane hired from Mario Bondin (il-Manju) lifted the two steel beams that were assembled on the billiard hall roof and placed in their final position. In the same operation, the large stone blocks on pallets and the 9 inch stone blocks delivered from the quarry that same day, were lifted onto the roof of the billiard hall.
   On Friday, September 28, John Spiteri worked on a number of door-jamb stone blocks using the band-saw.
   On Sunday, September 30, Joe Spiteri continued with the work started earlier that week, that is, the erection of wooden shuttering around the steel beam reinforcing. In this regard, Joer was helped by Michael Aquilina and Joe Ellul. Later in the day, work had to be discontinued because of rain -
   While work continued on the shuttering. one for the 3 course steel beam and the other for the steel beam adjacent to it, it was decided the pouring of those beams was to be carried out on Saturday, October 6. At 7.30 that morning, Mario Bondin’s crane started work on the lifting of concrete purchased from Elbros – the pouring of these beams was supervised by Joe Spiteri. The entire operation only took 1.5 hour thanks to the special tools borrowed from various individuals.

Salvu Mallia, Karmenu Borg, Bertu Magro, Mro. Vella and Martin Formosa admiring a sculpted stone.

  On Sunday, October 7, Joe Spiteri dismantled the beam shuttering and Joe Zerafa continued with the laying of stone on the double-wall of the facade.
   With the aid of a jig, Karmenu Psaila continued to work on the 96 stone blocks that later were to form the jambs of the door and window openings on the balcony level
   On October 14, under the supervision of Carmel Magro (ta Natt) the existing scaffolding on the front of the building was re-designed and extended in order to further aid in the laying of stone blocks on the second floor of the facade.
 Michael Aquilina. Nikol Abdilla, Martin Formosa, Salvu Bugeja and Emanuel Magro helped in this regard.
  On Tuesday, October 16, 7 large stone blocks were delivered to the site - these were later to be finished and used as door-head and window-head slabs. The forming of these slabs was entrusted to Karmenu Psaila who ingeniously used a router to reduce the amount of work involved as well as to produce work of a superior quality. We thank Attard Tipped Tools for their help and support in connection with the ordering of carbide  cutters and their honing.

   On the weekend of October 20 and 21, Joe Zerafa, John Spiteri and Karmenu Psaila resumed work on the facade. In the meantime, an order was placed for 100 larger stone blocks, as well as more 9 inch blocks. Work on the scaffolding was nearing completion and Joe Zerafa managed to finish the tenth course of the façade. Emanuel Magro worked on a temporary piping system for preventing any rain water from settling on the roof.
   On Tuesday, October 23, a consignment of 12 inch stone blocks arrived on the site from the quarry for use on the façade.
   On Saturday, November 3, Innocent Centorrino supplied us with the template for the door-head and window-head slabs. As a result of purchasing more piping and swivels, Carmel Magro (ta Natt), Mikiel Aquilina, Martin Formosa and Salvu Bugeja added more pipes to the existing outside scaffolding.
   On Wednesday, November, starting at about 4.15pm a large number of stone blocks were lifted onto the roof only a short time after it was received from the quarries of Salvu Ellul and ta’ Tunis. Karmenu Psaila resumed work on the stone blocks referred to as appendages that fit just under the door-head slabs. Joe Spiteri completed the eleventh course of the façade. The sculpturing work planned for the door-head slabs was discussed.

Grezzju Farrugia and Karmenu Psaila sculpting stone for the facade

  On Saturday, November 10, Karmenu Caruana and Felic Zerafa worked on the supporting wall of the Committee Room, while on Sunday, work resumed on the outside scaffolding.
   On Monday, November 12, Joe Zerafa laid appendage blocks on the main façade. A number of thick planks were positioned in the rounded part of the stairs by Martin Formosa and Salvu Mallia. Flood-lights were installed thereby enabling the builders and other workers to carry on with their work even at night.
   A quantity of concrete bricks was lifted onto the roof. Also, the first stone door-head slab made by Karmenu Psaila and which took three days to complete was laid in its final position.

  Martin Fomosa worked on the slabs adjacent to the door-head slabs while Joe Zerafa worked on the flat arch of the facade doors and window openings. The following day, Sunday, all the building activities were suspended because of a function taking place in the village Square.
   Another consignment of stone blocks was delivered and lifted onto the roof. This large ammount of cut-to-measure stone blocks has the undesirable effect of raising the expenditure in the thousands of liri.The following day, Sunday, November 25, more work was carried out on the door-head slabs.
   On Saturday, December 1, Martin Formosa initiated work on the first of the and window arches. Of these there are 12 to be made at a cost of Lm25 per slab. Joe Zerafa resumed work on the facade.

We thank all the voluntary workers mentioned above and more. Because of them not a cent was spent on working hours.