Welcome to the autumn edition of the LDG Newsletter, I hope you’ve all had a good summer even if it did seem a little short.
Firstly congratulations to the Foundry Foxes team who yet again took part in the Ringing World’s National Youth Competition in London in early July, a great time was had by all. Many thanks to all who have contributed their time and support to our Youth Team – it is invaluable.
Personally I have spent most of the last quarter working alongside Taylors and the Tilton ringers to facilitate the removal of the bells and frame. Having rung a final quarter peal on the old frame on 10th July, which we dedicated to Richard CL Brown, I assembled a team of local volunteers to take out the bells and the frame; work started in earnest at the beginning of August. As a result of water ingress over the years, the main RSJ’s had rusted and were beyond repair, no matter how much Hammerite we applied!
It was the biggest job I’ve ever had the pleasure to be involved with – we had 27 man days of volunteers and working with Kit (Taylor’s bell hanger ) we managed to get all six bells and the frame out of the tower and away to Taylor’s within two weeks. Taylors will now build a new frame which we will then help them to re-fit.
On the first day the team removed all wheels / stays / ropes / pulleys and clappers with the next few days spent assembling a lifting frame to take all the bells out by lowering them through the ringing chamber. We then removed the side frames and cross members which took ages because of the level of corrosion. Lastly, we had to chisel the RSJ’s out of the wall, cutting them in half to remove them.
It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to helping with the installation of the new frame when it is ready; we hope to be able to ring a quarter with mostly Tilton ringers once the new frame is installed.
The project has been an expensive one and congratulations to the Tilton team and their other halves who have made a tremendous effort in raising the funds to be able to get the work underway, a substantial donation has also been received from the BRF to help them with this work.
This serves as a reminder that the BRF is there to help with any work like this and there is a fast track for any small projects that need funding, so please make sure that you apply for a grant if you are doing any work on your bells.
Lastly, I have been on holiday for the last few weeks, some of this time has been spent walking along the pilgrim route of El Camino de Santiago which starts in France and goes through northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela. I did the last 100 miles last year so took the opportunity to walk another 64 miles in an earlier part of the route with a friend this year. At the various stop off points I took the opportunity to visit the elaborate churches. Although all the churches had numerous bells they were all way out of tune. It made me realise how lucky we are with are to have such wonderful bells in England.
Enjoy your ringing as the nights start to draw in and make sure that the LDG AGM is in your diary for Saturday the 26th of October at Oadby, I hope to see you there!
Regards,
Pete Brown,
LDG President.
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