Electronic Audio Systems Ltd has a long, proud and successful history since it was formed by Mr Eric Sawkins in 1988 and has hundreds of church sound system installations, mainly in London and the home counties.

Prior to the birth of the company, Eric had served an electronics engineering apprenticeship with Marconi at Chelmsford and then worked for various UK public address manufacturers and designers.

Meanwhile, after leaving school, Brian Latham served an apprenticeship with the GPO (now BT) and worked for them for 13 years.

Eric always supported the various Trade Associations that have represented the UK industry that he served. In the mid 1980s Eric was a board member of the Association of Public Address Engineers, as was Brian Latham.

It is hard to believe that it’s 21 years since members and associates of the Lead Contractors Association (LCA) came together to celebrate the announcement of the first Murdoch Award. The award was presented in 1996 in honour of Dick Murdoch – ‘Mr Lead’ – on his retirement. They were founded to mark his tireless efforts and success in raising quality standards in lead-sheet work, part of which led to the founding of the LCA in 1984.

A decade later the Murdoch Sponsor’s Award was added. That featured the smaller installations that used less than five tonnes of lead sheet, but which could be equally demanding of the leadworker’s skills as the larger, more eye-catching projects.

Pigeons were roosting within the circular windows of this property in Sutton - the first photo shows where they left fouling marks - and so the owners called in London-based Microbee Bird Control Ltd who are specialists in a wide variety of bird control systems.

The first job was to clean and sterilise the affected area and then a net was fitted to cover the whole circle. They also installed anti perching wire to the ledges of the windows below this - the second photo shows the finished work.

The company offer such protection for a wide range of properties, including churches and heritage buildings.

Designers of a new community Baptist Church, nearing completion in Dumfries, turned to spray applied insulation specialists, Icynene to solve a complex insulation challenge.

The new Church is a 2000sqm, multi-purpose building designed by Glasgow based, McLean Architects and built in the Georgetown district of Dumfries in the Scottish Borders.

The building was conceived as a flexible-use community hub comprising worship, conference and youth facilities together a full specification games hall and multi-use games area.

For the games hall, McLean Architects designed an 18.00x 18.00 m sq 8.00m high structure comprising a 140mm thick internal leaf of concrete blockwork with an external steel frame, supporting fibre-cement rain-screen cladding.

In July and August 2017 Suffolk Archaeology undertook three detailed geophysical surveys within the bailey of Bungay Castle, Bungay, Suffolk at the request of Historic England and the Bungay Castle Trust.

The aim of the project was to identify potential archaeological features or former buildings relating to the occupation of the castle, within a 0.24ha area of lawn, and to compare the results from modern equipment with those from a previous geophysical survey carried out in 1990.

Dulwich College in south London was established in the 17th Century and is famous not only for its superlative academic provision, but also for its historic buildings including the impressive Great Hall. The Hall is the centrepiece of the school community and was designed around 1870 by Charles Barry, whose father designed the Houses of Parliament.

Recently Dulwich College’s COO Simon Yiend led an initiative to reimagine the lighting design in the Great Hall to help to restore its original perspective. This included making this spectacular room’s lighting more appropriate to its heritage and also more efficient. Bespoke lighting specialist Dernier & Hamlyn was asked to utilise the knowledge its engineers and craftsmen have built up over many years to propose an appropriate solution. They advised installing the light fittings on rods that were attached to the ceiling at the same points as Barry’s gas lights to minimise the effect on the building’s structure while optimising lighting levels.

Ark Stained Glass & Leaded Lights Ltd were approached to work on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as part of their huge refurbishment project.

Part of the work was to take out a number of leaded lights and steel casements, strip and relead the windows, replacing any broken glass, and restoring the casements.

When Grade II* listed All Saints Church in the North Yorkshire hamlet of Burton-in-Lonsdale needed a roof renovation, the architects for the Anglican church turned to JB Shingles from Marley Eternit to deliver a rustic look that harmonised with its surroundings.

The distinctive broach spire, originally built in 1876, had been suffering from weather erosion and needed extensive repairs and renewal, in particular to the shingle cladding, as it was around 60 years old. A substantial grant was secured from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.

In January Stockport-based Aura Conservation Ltd were appointed to carry out the restoration of the Grade II listed 19th century parish church of St Thomas the Apostle in Heptonstall. The gothic style church stands alongside the ruin of the previous 13th century Church of St Thomas à Beckett with three adjacent churchyards.

The LSA is going to be running some half day CPD certified seminars in the North of England this autumn. These lead and hard metal seminars are some of our most popular courses and are aimed at anyone involved in the surveying, specifying or installation of rolled lead sheet/traditional hard metals in the construction industry.

Two venues have been selected, one near Wetherby and one in Wigan, to help cover as wide a catchment area as possible.