If....you can do it with QuickSetts

Sometime last year, Torridge District Council , down there in South West England, successfully got their mitts on £418,000 through the UK government's Coastal Communities Fund scheme.

Following consultation with local residents about what they'd like to see as an enhancement for their community, there emerged an idea to commemorate Rudyard Kipling , the celebrated author and poet, who had spent part of his childhood in Westward Ho! Eventually, it was decided that the first verse of his possibly most famous poem, If, should be spelled out in granite sets along the town's promenade.

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

Inspired, Devon & Cornwall Surfacing (DCS) started to work with Jobling Purser and between them they came up with a layout plan that could be fitted into the dimensions set by the client, which then allowed a tender price to be prepared and submitted. Luckily for our story, DCS were awarded the contract in February 2016 with completion required before the onset of the summer season at the end of May 2016.

Installation started with DCS very carefully marking-up the site to ensure a comfortable fit and a straight line for the letters that would make up the poem. Following a Guide Sheet prepared in advance by Jobling Purser, the team from DCS started to dry-lay each individual letter, using a combination of the Square and Inner Dovetail QuickSetts . Once happy with the finished layout, the position of the QuickSetts was carefully marked before they were lifted and set aside.

The next step was to permanently affix the QuickSetts . This is done using QuickSett Bedding and Jointing Compound , a tried and tested high-strength polyurethane adhesive, mixed on-site and applied precisely where required for each letter. Each component QuickSett unit could then be placed onto the bedding resin, checked for position and alignment, and then left to set.