Issue 31, July 2003

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News, Information and Trivia for Ringers in the Derby & Ilkeston Districts

The Bells Advisory Committee

The Bells Advisory Committee (BAC) was voted into existence at the AGM in April this year and replaced the less formal Bell Repair Co-ordinating Committee set up by Gordon Halls several years ago. The BAC is now the principal means by which the Association implements its Objective 4 (see Objectives and Rules in the Annual Report) which was amended at the April AGM. Thus the end result for advice from the BAC is that our existing stocks of bells will be improved or their state of repair maintained at an acceptable level. Advice can also result in augmentations or new rings of bells.

The Committee comprises the Bell Consultants, the Hon Treasurer of the Bell Repair Fund, the Hon Secretary of the Bell Repair Fund, and one member elected from each of the four Districts. The role of the District Members is to improve communication between the grass roots of each District and the committee. Observers may also be invited to the meetings.

Financial and/or technical advice is given to The Association General Committee and also to Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) and/or their agents (such as the local Steeple Keeper or Tower Captain). Financial advice for the Association General Committee comprises recommendations for awards of grants and/or loans to PCCs for work directly associated with their bells. Financial advice to PCCs includes information regarding Association grants and loans plus advice for securing funding from other sources.

A very comprehensive range of technical advice is offered by the Bell Consultants if requested in writing by a PCC or its agent. This includes advice on the status of bell installations and recommendations for improvements, recommended sources of DIY assistance, feasibility studies (including CAD drawings) for alterations to bell installations, advice on quotations received from bell hangers, support for local management of bell projects, approval of work carried out by bell hangers and/or others, and training in maintenance of bell installations. Since the bells are nearly all owned by The Church of England, only the relevant PCC (or their agents) can implement technical advice. Some work may require a Faculty and/or the services of professional bell hangers. However in other more minor instances the Bell Consultants, or a recognised DIY team, may be invited by the PCC (or their agent) to implement work stemming from technical advice.

Mike Banks
Chairman of The Bells Advisory Committee

Index

Combined Towers annual outing

Saturday the 12th of July dawned fine and sunny. Ringers and friends from Belper, Duffield and Mugginton, plus some special guests, set off by car and Belper Community Mini Bus for towers in Cheshire. After pickups in Duffield and Hilton, the first tower, St. Mary's Nantwich, was reached with time to spare and some took the opportunity to go off in search of coffee and cake. The wonderful smell from the bakery and the weekly market right next to the church were a great temptation but eventually everyone made it to the ringing room in the central octagonal tower. Like many in this part of the world, the church is built from the local stone which is a pinky-brown colour. The same colour as a hippopotamus, someone said.

We were joined here by two ringers, Tim Jackson from Hampshire and Michael Williams from Oxford, who had heard about the outing at the Association Meeting the previous Saturday. More about their contributions later. Ringing here was of a good standard that would not be reached again until the middle of the afternoon.

Next, on to Chester itself, but heavy traffic and a very minor RTA meant we were late in arriving at St. Mary's Centre. This church, within the old city walls, is now a secular meeting place run by the city council and forms had to be signed for insurance indemnity purposes. The ringing room is reached by two vertical ladders with a 180 degree turn between and this deterred a number of the group. Once the ringing room was reached - disaster! The roof of the tower was under repair and the temporary platform erected to give access interfered with the movement of several bells! Our Oxford visitor offered to dismantle the scaffolding if spanners could be found and yours truly was despatched to look for a tool shop. Fortunately, right by the church gates, a man was painting his windows and, explanations completed, offered the loan of an adjustable spanner and mole grips. In the ringing room, opinion on the best course of action had changed so it was back to the friendly neighbour (you remember the vertical ladders?) for wood-saw, hammer, screwdriver and larger spanner. The carpentry skills of Arnold Morley were then put to use and several inches of wood were removed from two stays, which allowed them to clear the scaffolding. However, nothing could be done to make the tenor ringable as it's clapper flight still fouled. So, it was 7 bells instead of 8, which was particularly galling for Tim Jackson as he had come all the way from Farnborough for this and another tower in the afternoon. (Evidently it doesn't count as a "grab" unless all the bells are rung.) The spliced surprise major planned was also a non-starter. The final problem encountered was that the new access ladder to the belfry prevented the trapdoor from closing. As the ringing room is almost directly below the belfry, it was VERY LOUD!

It was now lunchtime and, tools returned (thank you again Mr. Hannath), the group dispersed to make their meal arrangements. The sun continued to shine and the temperature had reached the mid-twenties so drink as well as food was a priority. The city centre pubs, beer gardens, patios and the street outside were thronged with race goers dressed to the nines (or, in some cases, hardly dressed at all) so several thirsty ringers had quite a walk to find decent beer at decent prices and somewhere to sit. Ice cream was also much in demand.

This accomplished, the next tower was St. Mary's Handbridge which was just a short walk from the city walls over the River Dee. This church was again built from the pinky-brown stone but the ringing room was lined with brick painted, quite nicely, in 3 colours. With the exception of the wall clock, everything in the ringing room seemed to be from the 1950's and some of the ropes were so worn, they could have been as well. The 19 cwt of the tenor, the heat and the lack of ventilation due to the small windows, conspired to defeat almost every touch. The planned 8-spliced had to be reduced to 5-spliced and still went wrong in the Lincolnshire with only a few blows to go. Never mind!

Much better ringing was accomplished at our next port-of-call, All Saints Hoole, but the attempt at Chester Surprise Minor had to be abandoned. We had arrived a little early to find the local band finishing their ringing for an earlier wedding. Tips on the "go" of the bells were quite valuable.

Our final tower of the day was just that - a tower with no church. The Wybunbury (pronounced Wynbury) Campanile is the tower of the former St. Chad's. It was opened as a ringing and tourist attraction in September 2002 by one of the engineers responsible for the stabilising the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the connection being that this tower had been straightened using the same technique 130 years ago. After the drive from Chester had been slightly extended by the course of the new A500 (not clearly marked on our maps), there was no-one to to let us in and no key at the pub next door as arranged. Phone calls to our contact went unanswered so Tim and Gill were despatched to the vicarage at the other end of the village. They returned with the news that the vicar's wife was trying to contact someone and, in fairly short order, the wife of one of the local band appeared with his key. Hooray! The general consensus was that this 14 cwt 6 were "nice bells" but a very leisurely pace was required; some good ringing but the Chester failed again.

The evening meal had been booked at the Swan Inn next to the tower and the Jennings beer was much appreciated. The promised key was finally located in an envelope behind the bar! (Thank you again Mrs Colbert.) The food was excellent but the occasion was spoiled for some sitting near the windows when they got flies as well as fries. (Sorry about that.) As usual with a group this size, getting the bill sorted took ages and we set off home over an hour later than planned.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, all the above trials and tribulations, an enjoyable and certainly memorable day. Thanks go to Gill Hughes and John Cater who did most of the driving and to Peter Sutton for all the organising.

Steve Harpham

Index

Brailsford Village Festival

This took place over the days of July 5th and 6th 2003 in All Saints’ Church. It was an event where all the Village organisations could demonstrate their activities and create suitable flower displays. The Bellringers had a Ringing Chamber superbly decorated with flowers in an ‘Oranges and Lemons’ theme (including the ‘five farthings’) by Marian Tayler and Rosemary Chesshire. Two new books were on sale - The Bells of All Saints Brailsford and The Carved Bench Ends of All Saints’ Brailsford – both of which sold very well, with profits going to church funds.

Villagers and visitors could visit the new raised ringing room which was created as part of the Church Re-ordering in 2002 into early 2003.

I (ably assisted by my labourer Jenny) had set up a video camera in the Belfry focusing on the second and fifth bells. For a lot of the two days these bells had their clappers locked by ‘Eckington-type’ ties (to avoid aural conflict with the organ playing, choir, Handbell Ringing, Maypole Dancing and Folk Dancing). It gave us the opportunity to let visitors ‘have a go’ at ringing (backstrokes only) on the two tied bells. However, it did mean someone (ME!) climbing the 52 steep and uneven steps up to the belfry fourteen times over the two days to tie and untie the clappers. (I am feeling much fitter now that I have recovered!).

In addition, we gave demonstrations of rounds and plain hunt (without the ties) at designated times during the two days.

The video camera was a great success since people (including some of our ringers who have not yet made it up the tower) could see what was happening as the ropes were pulled.

At the end of the weekend we had seven people expressing interest in learning to ring. Now we need to encourage them – and organise the time to teach them!

Overall it was a very successful weekend for the village and especially so for the ringers who put a lot of effort into decorating the Ringing Room and ‘stewarding’ the visitors.

Chris Booth

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History Corner

At Parwich there are eight tubular bells. These look rather like tubes of scaffolding! They range in size from 4 feet 8.5 inches to 7 feet 8.5 inches long. They were given in memory of the men of the village who died in World War 1.

Index

THINGS to DO, PLACES to GO

Saturday 26th July 2003	Ringing Roadshow 2003 at Lincoln Showground
Saturday 9th August 2003	District Meeting at Darley Dale, 6.00 to 7.30 pm
Saturday 13th September 2003	Car Outing in the Lichfield area. Details of towers will be in Strike Notes 32.

Index

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