May 30, 2019 – Volume 34, No. 1
Next edition June 13
L’édition de cette semaine à l’intérieur...
Bearbrook church gets its clang back
Four members of Trinity Anglican Church in Bearbrook lift a new bell into place in the church’s belfry. The bell was donated to replace the church’s original bell which was stolen last May. FRED SHERWIN PHOTO
By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star For the past year, the parishioners at Trinity Anglican Church in Bearbrook have been called to prayer by a small temporary bell. The small bell was put into use after the church’s large brass bell was removed by thieves in the middle of the night last May 21. The 150-pound bell had been in use for 93 years before it was stolen. Church warden Marilyn Lowe says losing the bell was like losing the church’s soul. “It left an empty feeling – as if something wasn’t right,” says Lowe. The church had been searching for a replacement bell for months before the Anglican church in Chesterville finally answered their prayers with a 250-pound brass
bell which is nearly twice the size of the old one. “It means everything to have it back because it’s always been there since 1925 and the service didn’t start until they rung that bell,” says Lowe. Other the years, the bell was rung for countless weddings, baptisms and even funerals over the generations. It took a crane donated by Vars Concrete and plenty of elbow grease to install the new bell. The job was left to four church members who had to build a new base for the bell’s cradle before lifting it into place and attaching the clanger. The bell will be used for the first time before the church’s annual Memorial Service on Father’s Day. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2