St Martin’s installs solar panels on parish hall
SOLAR panels have gone up on St Martin’s parish hall as part of major refurbishment work on the site.
Work on the hall began last year and is expected to be completed next Easter.
Junior constable Dave Beausire said the work was progressing well.
As part of the project, solar panels have been installed on the roof of the hall and the toilet block.
‘The roof needed re-slating anyway, so we incorporated the solar panels,’ he said.
‘The power goes to the hall and any excess will go back to the grid. We now will need to see how they operate.’
At this stage the parish has not opted for a battery and Mr Beausire said it would see what the usage was like over the next quarter to assess how things were going.
In a joint statement from both constables, they said they were proud to be the first parish to commit to solar power.
The hall has electric heaters.
‘The whole idea is to reduce cost to the parish – not just now, but in the future,’ Mr Beausire said.
Using the same philosophy, extensive work is being carried out on the hall to ensure it is in a good condition for the future.
That has included enlarging the douzaine room and building a new library. The work on the hall – which is always busy with community bookings – is now all done. The next stage is the work on the constables’ office.
Mr Beausire said the office would be staying open, but officials were moving upstairs in January while the work takes place.
