The Bells Return!
I am delighted to be able to tell you all that at long last the
outstanding work on the bell frame has now been completed and the whole job
finished.
I have informed David Beacham and I hope that now he will be able to sign off
the job so that we can apply to the Millennium Bells Commission for the
outstanding part of their grant and to the Change Ringing association for the
grants offered in March 1999. As you will recall, the total cost of the work,
including the repairs to the structure of the tower is £100,000, of which the
work on the bells and the bell frame was £40,000. If the full amount of the
grants promised is received, they will total £22,765, leaving the Parish to
find the balance.
The Parochial Church Council is pleased that the bells will be rung regularly in
the period up to Christmas. We hope that they will continue to be rung regularly
as a matter of course, and not just for the first family service in the month.
David Mills
Churchwarden
29th November 2000
On Monday 2nd October, the day before the Harvest Festival
weekend, the bells arrived back in Chaddesley !
Then the hard work of getting the bells, the headstocks, wheels and sundry
attachments to the top of the tower began !
The largest (the Tenor) weighs 15 cwt. and the headstock is a further 3 cwt. so
it is no easy job lifting this bell into position using blocks and pulleys.
By Thursday, all bells and wheels were in place and the work of lining
everything up and installing the various guides could start.
The whole job should be completed within the next week, after which the test
ringing can take place. But no more promises as to when regular ringing can
re-commence.
I should like to take this opportunity to thank the following people who so
generously gave their time to assist with the work:
David Baines, Bernard Cook, David
James, Roger List, Steve Brinksman,
Hugh Richards, Rob Hopwood, Mike Batt.
Their help was much appreciated.
October
"The bells are due for return in the week commencing 18th
September and, all being well, will be in position by the end of that week.
After hauling them back up into the bell chamber by block and tackle - and the
Tenor Bell weighs almost a ton - the support beam has to be bolted back into
position, and the clock chiming mechanism wires re-connected.
It is hard to believe that this latest saga of the bells repair started in
Autumn 1996 when it was decided to apply for a grant from the Millennium
Commission - from their "Ringing-In the Millennium" fund. After filing
so many forms we could pass an A-level a grant was awarded in 1998.
However, before work could start, a 'Faculty' had to be obtained from the
Diocese and, due to a 'difference of opinion' as to how the bell-frame
should be supported (!) the final decision on a Faculty was delayed until
January 1999.
By this time we had 'lost' our place in the queue at the bell
Foundry and so we missed the Millennium deadline. In fact the bells were not
taken out until March 2000 and, at that stage, we were promised they would be
back in time for the village Millennium Weekend in June. again this deadline was
missed because of further delays at the Foundry. The new target date is the
Harvest Festival (!) and, when you read this you should know whether that target
has been met .... "
September
