This is quite an unusual contract for a steeplejack company to carry out, but we were asked by an engineer, who we had done previous steeplejacking contracts for, if we were interested.

It seemed like an interesting job and although it was at ground level it is, to some extent, similar to some of the things we do at height. Building a suspension bridge is basically a rigging job.

The previous bridge was about 50 years old, constructed of timber, and too close to the water. When the river was in spate it would rise above the bridge deck and this, in combination with a lack of maintenance and rot, had absolutely destroyed the bridge.

The job was commissioned by the Tweed Forum. The plan was to construct an new public walkway, and its proposed route (over the Leader Water) meant that the old bridge had to be renewed.