The return of Robin Shapero...

If you've spent any time walking up and down Bath Road or Oriel Road over the last nine months, you may well have stepped over Robin Shapero without giving him much thought. He's often been found in the town recently sprawled across the pavements. This isn't because he drinks excessively. He's actually installing the Floodwall, a brilliant system that he designed and is now being marketed throughout the UK from here in Cheltenham. Having been flooded twice last summer - for the first time in something like 30 years - there was concern over the wisdom in spending £250,000 on an auditorium refurbishment for all that good work to be washed away.

So, last autumn, Robin measured up all the doors along our Bath Road frontage, together with the airbricks and cellar hatch, and had a series of Floodwalls made for The Playhouse. And last week, having been a bit under the weather for a while, he and his colleague Pat turned up to start installing them. The system is surprisingly simple but very effective. A frame is fixed permanently in place around the bottom of a door and, should you fear the worst, you simply clip an aluminium panel with a fixed seal to the frame. In a matter of seconds, the building is protected. You can read more about the system at http://www.floodwall.net/

I think everyone involved with the theatre has been worried that we might end up with a river running through the complex again whenever there has been a heavy downpour - in which case, it would probably be cheaper to reopen as a swimming pool. Having the Floodwalls in situ is a considerable comfort.