feature

feature “Look to, treble’s going, she’s gone...”

This is the traditional command to start off a piece of ringing. But in this case all the bells have gone, quite literally. The project to refurbish and re-hang the eight bells at Holy Trinity church, Meldreth, is now under way. On Tuesday 7th April, the bell-hangers from Whitechapel Bell Foundry came to take out the bells and the frame in which they hung.

By Friday morning, the bells were lined up on the pavement outside the church, ready to be loaded onto a lorry to be taken to London. A small crowd was there to bid the bells farewell, including John Gipson, who did the last major work on the bells himself. That was almost 50 years ago, in 1968, when he hung the two smallest bells, to complete the octave. The inscriptions on the bells were clear to read in the spring sunshine; ‘1617’ on the tenor, the oldest and largest bell, ‘Honour the fallen in two wars’ on the war memorial bell and the name of John Gipson (as churchwarden in 1968) on the treble, the smallest bell.

It had been quite a logistical challenge to get the bells out of the tower, with limited space up in the bell chamber, 60 feet above the ground. First, some of the bells had to be moved out of the way, and part of the frame removed, to clear space to access the trap door. Lifting beams had to be brought up and installed (a tricky task in itself, which took most of a day). Only then could the bells be lowered to the base of the tower, on a hand-operated chain hoist. Finally there was still the massive oak frame to dismantle and lower. It was getting dark by the time the final pieces were out.

Thanks are due to Peter and Ian, the bell-hangers, for their professional and careful work and to the ringers who came to help; Jim, Bruce, Mike, Derek and Jane.

As we were able to examine the bells and frame closely, it was clear just how worn the bells and their fittings were after all those years of ringing, showing the importance of this project. The aim is to restore the bells to a first-class condition, ready to continue ringing out over the village for the rest of the 21st century.

The next stage in the project is to prepare the tower for the installation of the new steel bell frame, in which the bells will now all be on the same level. Meanwhile, at Whitechapel, the bells will be cleaned and tuned, new fittings will be prepared and the new frame built and tested. We expect to have the bells back in the summer. While the bells are out, we will be practising at Melbourn on Wednesday evenings, so if you are interesting in learning to ring, or are a lapsed ringer who would like to return, please feel free to join us. You will receive a warm welcome.

More photos of the work so far can be found on the church website: www.meldrethchurch.org.uk/bells/appeal.htm