THE Bailiff hit the roof yesterday to lay some slates on the old Royal Court building. Geoffrey Rowland nailed them in as part of a topping out ceremony overseen by the workmen who have been involved with the project.

Since January, contractor C. A. Duquemin has carried out extensive repair work on the historic building. Working alongside it, R. G. Falla has built an annexe linking the old building with the new extension.

Mr Rowland said it was a ‘privilege and an honour’ to be involved with the topping out ceremony and that he was looking forward to December when the work would be complete.

‘We have suffered over the years from water leaking into the building and the radiators often not working and a whole raft of other problems. To return to this historic building reconstructed and partially refurbished will be very special.’

C. A. Duquemin joint managing director David Duquemin said that the Royal Court was a very important building and it had been a pleasure to be involved in maintaining and upgrading it for future generations.

He added that it was good to note that two of Guernsey’s longest established building companies had been chosen to carry out the task.

‘It is important that work of this nature is awarded to local firms so that traditional building skills will remain on the island.

‘I am sure that apprentices working on this project now will remember the skills learnt for the rest of their careers.’

A time capsule was also slid into the roof during the ceremony.

‘While uncovering the roof, we discovered a bottle: inside was the name of Thomas Rose – a carpenter who was born in 1875. He left the bottle in the roof during the construction of the two wings to this building on 18 September 1903.’

The bottle was first found in 1956 by Ron Jenner and two of his colleagues, who placed their names in it and put it back where they found it.

Mr Jenner was invited to bury the capsule for a second time yesterday – this time with the names of the 140 people involved in the current project.