A Top Day at Sherwood

We were delighted to welcome some of our partners, funders and supporters on site at Sherwood to mark the Topping Out ceremony this week.

You’d be forgiven for asking what one of these is exactly. Topping Out ceremonies first came about to mark the point where a build physically reaches its highest point – such as the completion of the roof or addition of the last beam. In more recent times, its come to mean the building itself is finished, that is, the external building work, and attention moves inside – which is the case at Sherwood.

Tradition on these occasions range from attaching a yew branch to the highest beam of the building, to planting a new evergreen in the landscaping close to the new structure – which we’ve chosen to do. All of these acts in some way offer thanks for the wood which has gone into the building, and hope to seal good luck for its future. Having arranged the date, March 28 – we were then even more excited to find out it was the exact same date chosen by the architect who built Winchester School, to celebrate their Topping Out in 1393 – the first written recording of such an event, exactly 625 years earlier – surely more good luck for us!

On the day, the rain clouds parted for a couple of hours and bathed our beautiful new building in sunshine, and had us all imagining another (hopefully) sunny day in a few months’ time when we get to welcome everyone here. There’s now lots to do inside, as we transform an impressive-looking structure into a visitor centre fit for this legendary forest. The big news is, we’re another step closer!