Issue 19, July 2002

Contributions for Issue 20 are needed before July 30th, 2002

Address for Strike Notes :
, 51 The Plain, Brailsford, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, DE6 3BZ

“Grab a Rope & Ring a Bell”

The Annual Ashbourne Arts Festival goes from strength to strength and in this, its third year, Bell Ringing was included in the programme.

On offer was an excellent display presentation set up by our newest recruit Tony. A Video show put together by Ian Brown showed Bells and Ringers in action. This also included some unique footage where a camera was mounted on a clapper as the bell rotated (double clappering very much in evidence). The more intrepid could have a go at ringing at least the backstroke and, if interested, could come back for more personal lessons.

Besides the members of the public who visited (with ages ranging from early teens to those already retired) we had invited back some lapsed ringers or those that had moved away. Response was minimal but it was nice to see the Woodcock family, now living at Heanor, and newish ringers from Tissington and Ilam attending. Total numbers in the church must have reached fifty and the refreshments laid on by the ladies were much in demand.

Whether we get any new recruits from the evening remains to be seen. But it was a very good PR exercise and everybody enjoyed it - not least the ringers who had put in all the work to make it a success.
Maurice Starkey

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The Story of a Walk and Ring

Jenny and Chris Booth planned this meeting for us, and 9 ringers and one dog set out from Bradbourne to walk to Brassington. The weather was lovely for walking, fine but grey, but it had rained for a day or two beforehand so the low lying fields between Bradbourne and Brassington were a bit wet. The menfolk walked a bit faster than the ladies so they got well ahead, but this was no bad thing because we could see the line of the path where they had walked through the grass first. Here and there the cows had done a great job in softening things up for us. The dog set a fine example - plough through the mud and if there's a stream to fall into so much the better.

Being more inhibited we tried hopping from one dry bit to the next - you know the kind of thing - arms outstretched, wobbling from side to side, (the kind of thing you did when you were a child, just before one foot went deep into the mud and you knew you had some explaining to do to your mother), but eventually we got good at it and it became a balancing act worthy of any tight rope walker. We got our own back on the dog when it came to stiles - we had to coax, cajole, lift (and separate) to persuade him either to jump over or to wriggle under.

There were some lovely moments - like when we reached a place where Jenny, a few days before (and to avoid a rather muddy patch) had thoughtfully cut back some thorns to make an alternative path for us, but the cows found it first and softened it up a bit - and when we all hopped quickly over a stile (the dog found a stream) just in time to escape a group of about 20 cows who came gambolling over to investigate the dog. Then we found we'd negotiated the wrong stile. Everyone managed to scramble back over just in time - except the District Secretary! - and the point when we looked down from one rather high stile into what looked suspiciously like wide slurry. The nimble ones simply jumped over to the other side, but others were more wary so Sheila found a large stepping stone and lobbed it into the middle..........!

At Brassington we were met by more ringers, two of whom joined us for the walk back to Bradbourne, and we were met on the way there by even more ringers and two small children. Now the terrain was entirely different - high on the hill tops it was dry under foot so we could admire the views without running the risk of straying into a wet bit - we just had to be careful of the hollows and the humpy-hillocky bits. We walked by Rainster Rocks and saw all sorts of signs in the landscape of ancient settlements. When we reached Bradbourne, Jane was there to meet us. The day was rounded off nicely with a meal together at the Knockerdown Inn where we were met by more family members. It was a lovely walk and very well planned. In the low lying fields and on the hill tops there were beautiful flowers and lovely views all round us. There were butterflies and birdsong - all the things which can't be seen during the usual working day - and as usual very good company.

Thank you Jenny and Chris for organising this - it was thoroughly enjoyable.
CW

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From the Archives
(Courtesy of Sue Peach)

About 1896, F. C. Hopkins, M.A., Assistant master of Repton School, wrote a treatise called ‘Repton’s Merry Bells’. The title came from an ode by an unnamed local poet:

The book appears to have been prompted by the restoration of the bells in 1896. Hopkins describes it:

“For some time our ring of six bells has only been ‘chimed’ as, owing to the state of the beams which supported them, it was considered dangerous to ‘ring’ them. During the month of January, 1896, Messrs. John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough, descendants of a long line of bell-founders, lowered the bells down, and conveyed them to Loughborough, where they were thoroughly cleansed, and examined. Four of them were sound, but two, the 5th and 6th, were found to be cracked. The 6th (the Tenor bell) worse than the 5th. The crack started in both bells from the “crown staple”, from which the “Clapper” hangs, it (the staple) is made of iron and cast into the crown of the bell. This has been the cause of many cracked bells. The two metals, bell-metal and iron, not yielding equally, one has to give way, and this is generally the bell-metal. The “Canons”, as the projecting pieces of metal forming the handle, and cast with the bell, are called, and by which they are fastened to the ”headstocks”, or axle tree, were found to be much worn with age. All the “Canons” have been removed, and new ones have been made which pass through the centre hole, and upwards through a square hole in the headstocks, made of iron, to replace the old wooden ones. New bell frames of iron, made in the shape of the letter H, fixed into oak beams above and below, support the bells, which are now raised about three feet above the bell chamber floor, and thus they can be examined more easily. During the restoration of the church in 1886, the opening of the west arch necessitated the removal of the ringers’ chamber floor, which had been made, at some period or other, between the ground floor and the groined roof, so ringers had to mount above the groined ceiling when they had to ring or chime the bells. There, owing to want of distance between them and the bells, the labour and inconvenience of ringing was doubled, the want of sufficient leverage was much felt, now the ringers stand on the ground floor, and with new ropes and new “sally-guides” their labour is lessened, and the ringing improved.”

He gives details of the size and weights and notes of the bells and concludes:

“To complete the octave, two more bells are required, D# and E, then indeed Repton will have a “ring” second to none.”

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Maintenance Tip

Bells hung on ball bearings are installed with the right amount of the correct grease and are sealed for life. They should never be re-greased. It could do damage to the bearing. If the housings are fitted with grease nipples ignore them they are a relic of past thinking which has now been discarded. If the bell is “ going “ well the bearings are probably in good condition. Failed ball bearings are reputed to make a noise which can be heard if the clapper is tied.

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Has your tower had a visitor?

Since the Annual District Meeting in January, committee members have been restyled as Area Representatives, each with the brief of liasing between a small group of towers and the Association. They have been asked to make contact with those towers to find out how the Association can assist them and to try to encourage contact between ringers.

If your tower has yet to receive a visit from an Area Rep, then when he or she arrives please feel free to tell them what help with training might be useful to your band, or what type of activities, ringing or otherwise, you would like the Association to arrange in your area. If you have an ambition to ring in a quarter peal at your church and need an extra ringer or two to make it achievable then speak with your Area Rep or one of the District Officers listed on page 15 of the Annual Report 2001.

Many visits have already taken place and the Reps have been made to feel welcome, please make use of them, they are there to help.
AH

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History Corner

During the 20th century, three rings of bells were lost in the Derby. There used to be eight bells at St. Werburgh’s church. Here the tower was said to be unsafe and the bells were broken up in the tower in the 1950s and removed. Only the old 6th bell remains as a clock bell. There were ten very fine bells at St. Andrew’s church, which used to stand on London Road near the station. This church was demolished as it was said to be unsafe – but three firms went bankrupt trying to demolish it! It is a shameful fact that these lovely bells were sold for scrap. Another ring of eight hung in St. Alkmund’s church. This was demolished to make way for the Inner Ring Road in the late 1960s. The treble bell became the new second when Breadsall bells were augmented and the other seven bells went to Whitehaven in Cumbria, where they form the basis of the present ring of 12.

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Diary Dates - July to August 2002

July 13th      District Meeting    CANCELLED
15th July      6 bell practice at Brailsford - 7:30 pm St Osmund & Eynesbury Doubles, Morning Exercise
20th July      Ringing in the City - City Silver Jubilee Celebrations
27th July      8 Bell practice at St Peter’s Derby – 6:30 pm Yorkshire, Rutland, Lincolnshire
10th August   Treasure Hunt
19th August   6 bell practice at Brailsford - 7.30 pm

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Go to Derby Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers