Refurb complete

Royal Southern Yacht Club 'Tops Out' following accomodation upgrade

On 12th June the Royal Southern Yacht Club at Hamble held a celebration of the progress of their refurbishment of the original Club buildings, which date from 1818, with a Topping Out ceremony.

This major project will be completed in August, with the residential accommodation re-opening in September. Originally the Club House itself, the Grade II Listed Cottages have more recently provided bedrooms, offices and support accommodation for the Club House extension which was completed in 1998.

Changing safety and fire regulations required that the bedrooms be closed in 2005. In view of this and the wish to provide quality bedroom accommodation in the future for Club Members and visitors using the Club, a decision was made to upgrade and repair the old cottages, which were originally homes for fishermen and coastguards.

The works, being undertaken by RCI Building Contractors of Chandlers Ford, have involved the careful replacement of dilapidated windows with new hardwood conservation frames (in order to maintain the attractive appearance of the old buildings) as well as extensive repairs and remodelling to the interior to provide nine double and two single bedrooms all with en-suite bathrooms, together with offices and Club Staff facilities on the Ground Floor. The refurbished bedrooms are to be fitted out to a very high standard with new maple furniture from Ellis Brothers and soft furnishings from The Design House in Winchester.

At the Topping Out Ceremony, the Commodore Mrs Annette Newton, with the help of RCI’s roofer Colin Mew (Swifty), marked the occasion by inserting a ‘time capsule’ recording the details of the development into a small prepared void in the original roof frames.

The tradition of a Topping Out ceremony originates from Scandinavia where it was believed that every tree was a home for a Troll. Thus whenever a house was built trees were cut down and the Trolls, or tree dwellers were made homeless.

To overcome this, the Scandinavians would attach a branch to the highest part of the house to attract the displaced Troll to live in the new building and bring good luck. This is why the Topping Out ceremony involves attaching a tree or branch to the top of the building.