Last week’s record-breaking temperatures were welcomed by some but for others the unprecedented heat created serious problems.
For local charity, The Benjamin Foundation, it threatened to destroy a ground-breaking art installation, called Flight for Youth, which consisted of thousands of glazed pottery butterflies which had been put in place at The Assembly House to mark the charity’s 25th anniversary.
Every single butterfly was attached to the structure with a glue backing but thanks to the extraordinary hot weather a few butterflies decided to try and escape the installation when the glue melted causing the fixings to come away from their ceramic backs. Which is where Abate leapt to the rescue…
We went to site to install a giant butterfly net measuring 22 metres by 7 metres to capture any falling butterflies and prevent further damage.
Colin Lang, Project Manager for the Benjamin Foundation said “We needed to act very quickly to secure the butterflies and I thought netting would be an ideal solution. I contacted Jon Blake the MD of Abate Pest Management who dropped everything to assist. Within hours, Abate carried out a survey, they then sourced specific netting from one supplier, ties from an electrical contractor and was ready to implement a solution to completely secure the butterflies and remove any safety issues.”
A team of three people from Abate between them carried out 11 hours of work in-between a wedding and the Run Norwich 10k race. Jon Blake from Abate said “We suspended and cable tied bird netting to the pre-existing scaffolding to create a barrier to prevent any further butterflies from falling. We were delighted to help, especially as the charity has done such a great job with the amazing spectacle of colour.”
Colin added, “Abate were heroes in my eyes, they went to all the trouble of helping in true community spirit and to top it all, Jon said that Abate would pay for all the works and materials. Sadly, despite everyone’s best efforts, with the temperatures continuing to soar and more butterflies falling, it was felt that the installation was a potential danger, so it has been moved to ground level but we remain so grateful to Jon and his team for leaping to our rescue at our time of need. I would personally like to thank such a great company for their support.
The Benjamin Foundation is an independent charity operating in Norfolk and Suffolk. They bring hope, opportunity, stability and independence by supporting people through the challenges that life may bring them, including homelessness, childcare, bullying and abuse. They have a team of over 200 staff and each person plays their part in helping around 2,500 children, young people and families each year.
Abate Pest Management is an award winning pest control company based in Morley near Wymondham. They provide domestic and commercial pest control, including audited food grade premises, hotels, schools and for Housing Associations. Abate has multiple accreditations and certifications including CEPA, BPCA, Triple ISO, SafeContractor and CHAS. They were awarded the small company of the year at the 2019 British Pest Management Awards and recently became a local Future50 company. Visit www.abatepestmanagement.co.uk, email [email protected] or call 01953 603390.