Pupils to tell Clarence revamp story (From Free Press Series)

Pupils to tell Clarence revamp story

MEET the Free Press' youngest correspondents.

Pupils from Cwmffrwdoer Primary School will be providing regular updates on the redevelopment of the Clarence Hotel building.

After many years' delay, work has finally started on the scheme to renovate the run-down building.

Eastern Valley Housing Association bought the old hotel in 2003 and pledged to transform it with flats, conference space and offices in a £2 million scheme.

Building work on the flats has now begun and should take around a year to complete.

But enough of that. Over to our junior journalists, 11-year-olds Nathan Day, Ellis Pheasant, Becky Jackson and Nicole Gomer and their report of their first visit to the site last week.

"We have had links with Eastern Valley Housing for many years, some of their staff have been coming into school to help us with our reading.

"We were very pleased when we were asked to do a project on the hotel during the time the work is being done.

"Four of us visited the site on Tuesday 7th September and we met four of the EVHS project team and then we were introduced to the site manager, Mr Vincent Burman.

"When we arrived, a wall was being demolished by a machine with a claw on it. This machine was being used because a wrecking ball is now illegal as it is difficult to control, the claw also makes it easy to push the rubble to one side. They are demolishing some of the walls because they are in a poor condition and it is easier to build new walls. Thirty tons of the stones will be used to make a boundary wall around the hotel.

"As part of our school project we will be collecting things to put in a time capsule and we were shown where it is going to be buried. We are going to have a competition in school to select items and the best ideas will go in the capsule.

This won't be easy because we have a limited amount of space and we want show people in the future what life is like in Pontypool in the year 2004.

"Mr Burman was kind enough to speak to us for half an hour to tell us about his job and what was happening on the site. His most important job is to keep people safe on the site (there were 32 people on site today, but this will increase to 60) and he also works with other companies to make sure the work is done properly. Mr Burman works for Tremlett and Griffiths and they are from Maesteg so he goes home every day but sometimes he is on the site until late in the evening.

"When we left, the main part of the hotel was still standing but the back had been demolished, scaffolding was being put around the front of the building. We are hoping to visit the site before Christmas to see how much progress has been made and we will be writing another report."