The floor of the Bill Chafer Youth Centre on Flash Lane in Bramley has been restored to its former glory by commercial floor and tiling experts, A Cumberlidge.
Built in the 19050s, the beautiful, original Granwood floor has seen thousands upon thousands of footsteps over the years from a variety of local people who use the community-based facility.
Explains Andrew Reeves, managing director of A Cumberlidge: “The centre is located quite close to my house, it’s a place I’m very familiar with as my family and I have been there many times over the years.
“Nothing had really been done to the Granwood floor, apart from being mopped, the odd coat of varnish applied and even flooded, for over 50 years and it was looking very tired and worn out. A Granwood floor is a composite mix of cement and wood dust 2 inch x 6inch blocks and it’s extremely hard wearing, in fact it is pretty much bomb proof!”
Continues Andrew: “We started out by sanding the floor and ended up removing over 70 kilos of old varnish and dirt in the process. After we had prepared the floor we sealed it and applied three separate coats of Granwax and the floor was transformed – it looks just like it did when it was first laid back in the 1950s.”
Run by local volunteers, the Bill Chafer Youth Centre is not only a safe and relaxing meeting place for local youngsters but there is also a built-in sports hall that is used for a variety of different sports and activities such as table tennis and dancing lessons.
A spokesperson from the Bill Chafer Youth Centre said:
“Young people in particular benefit from the centre and have had a long history of volunteering at Bramley which has given them the chance to learn new skills and develop their self-confidence as well as helping others within their community. Thanks to the support of people like Andrew and companies like A Cumberlidge this important work can continue.”
