The Carlisle Diocesan Guild

Bell Ringers' NewsletterHOT NEWS

Recent weeks have seen the sad deaths of two local ringers in the West: Ed Perrott, (left) who rang at Irton but joined in many local practices, and Geoff Ray, (right) who was TC at Hensingham. Photos Gordon Gray

Autumn 2017

Congratulations to Christine Hadfield and Rebecca Choy who both rang their first quarters peals recently.

And Congratulations to Jack and Majorie McTear on the 60th Wedding Anniversary

Sally Nicols rang her 25th Quarter peal - her first of triples, only 3.5 years since starting to ring.

Zoe Martin called her first quarter peal since the last Guild newsletter!

Contacts: Editor - chrisdecordova@gmail,comGuild Secretary - ghsewell@btinternet.comGuild website - carlisle-dgcbr.org.uk

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Issue 35

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EVENTS CALENDAR 2017/18Monday 13th November Appleby Eastern branch practice - TBCSaturday 18th November Wigton Surprise Practice 4pmSaturday 18th November Wigton Guild treble bob & surprise minor workshop Saturday 25th November Tower tba Eastern branch Intermediate practice Saturday 2nd December Tower tba Guild Stedman & Grandsire workshop Tuesday 12th Dec nb: 7pm! Thursby Eastern branch practice - TBCSat13th January Tower tba Guild Ringing MeetingSat 20th January Tower tba Calling Touches WorkshopSat 20th January Tower tba Surprise Practice Sat 3rd February Hensingham area Training DaySat 17th February Tower tba Surprise Practice Sat 3rd March Tower tba Western Branch AGMSat 17th March Tower tba Surprise Practice Sat 21st April Wigton Guild AGMSat 21st April Wigton Surprise Practice after AGM Sat 12th May Tower tba Striking Competition

Don't forget Codgers - the 2nd Thursday every month, and a few days away in AugustContact David Horne to get on mailing list.

On Facebook? Why not join the Bellringing in Cumbria group and share your tower news and photos?

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CDGCBR 50/50 Club DrawsMonthly prizes 1x £20, 1x £15, 1x £10The Big Catch-Up draw

Covering May 2016 to May 2017Thirteen months in total.

£20 PrizesSara ThomasJack McTearJohn ProudfootRachael RodwayOwen NorthwoodRichard PrattMary HuntingtonGordon and M GrayPaul WetherellSusan & Julian ThorpeMargaret and John HineRichard LastBob Smith

£15 PrizesMolleen McHaleWendy & Tony TheakstonDiana GreenSoo GrayKeith AmeyMo FlettWendy Graham

£15 Prizes (cont)Raymond CoanChristine HadfieldIan & Linda BrockbankDavid SpeechleySally WalkerMike Rodger

£10 PrizesBrian ForsterSara ThomasGillian PowellOwen NorthwoodRon EastChristine HadfieldC H RobinsonShap RingersDavid SpeechleyEd MatthewsSue SmithAlan SheadMike Allison

The June - Aug 2017 drawThree draws done during the Codgers’ Away trip in August 2017 £20 PrizesRosalind AmeyRobert NicholsIan and Linda Brockbank £15 PrizesSusan and Julian ThorpePat EvansSoo Gray £10 PrizesDoug SimSue SmithEileen Dunning

New subscribers always welcome. £12 per number per year. contact Anne East.

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Tower Grabbing in Yorkshire by Margaret Miller

On Saturday 22 July, 23 ringers from St Michael`s Workington and All Saints Cockermouth climbed aboard a Reays coach for a tower grabbing trip to Yorkshire. The trip was an opportunity for experienced and learner bellringers to get to grips with Yorkshire's finest tower bells. For most folk, this wasn`t their first trip to a different bell tower, but for some folk, including me, and our youngest bell ringer, Dan, it definitely was! Spirits were high as we left a very damp, grey Cumbria, for what we hoped were the blue skies of sunny Yorkshire. And so it was, for the most part.. St Lambert`s church, Burneston was our first stop. Dashing to the church to avoid the last of the heavy showers, we were struck by its magnificent roof, lovely Victorian stained glass and quiet interior. The ground floor compact bell chamber, housed six long draught bells; the tenor weighing in at 8cwt. As a learner, just ringing was nerve racking and exhilarating by turn. Fortunately, there were experienced ringers and tutors to provide encouragement, help out and model sweet sounding rounds and call changes.

Our next stop was the parish church of St Wilfrid, Harrogate. Internally, this church combined traditional church architecture with modern detailing. The font, organ and altar canopy were particularly beautiful.

Access to the bell tower, was a bit of challenge. A very tight, narrow spiral staircase and steep wooden staircase with open treads gave access to the roof and spacious ringing chamber, as shown left.

In comparison to the bells at St. Michael's, the bells were light, the tenor weighing in at a mere 6cwt 3q. Taking turns, everyone rang. Again, as a learner, I was struck by just how different these lighter bells were to the bells at St Michael‘s, requiring a guile and subtlety that I have yet to acquire. Lunch was a slightly hurried affair, vastly improved by Tim Taylor‘s Landlord bitter!

Photo: Paul Wetherell

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And then we were off to St John the Baptist‘s Church, Knaresborough. Here the eight bells were much more to my liking; the tenor weighing in at a hefty 18cwt 1q 15lb. A 13th century inscription on one of the bells reads "if you have a judicious ear, you‘ll own my voice is sweet and clear."

And then on to our final tower, St James Boroughbridge. The intimate six bell, ringing chamber was visibly located within the church,

immediately below the west window, as shown right.

Easy access via a single staircase ensured that everyone could and did ring. While rounds and call changes predominated, experienced ringers sweetly rang out Cambridge Surprise Minor.

The final destination of the day was the Royal Oak in Appleby for a jolly good meal and swift half or two of real ale. This was a trip to be remembered. Firsts always are!

Photo: Margaret Nichol

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A BLAST of a day out!!! New bells for Moresby

The first castings took place on Thursday Oct 19th and a Sims (Eskdale) coach with two drivers, took a combined group from the church and local ringers down to the foundry in Loughborough. It was a long journey but the coach was luxurious with plenty of space.

At the foundry we assembled in the museum and shop, where people had fun malleting the exhibition of very varied bells. Different shapes, sizes, ages, metals etc. There was plenty to see, including the Carter ringing machine, and plenty of nice things to buy.

The tour guide took us to see how a bell is rung (by hand - not rope) and how the stay and slider work; to

see and hear how bells of different metals sound and it was quite a surprise to some to find out that bigger bells can have a higher note than small ones. We saw where and how bells are tuned, where wheels and wooden frames etc are made, where old bells, including Cleator Moor's bells, are stored (right), and admired lots of new ones being made ready for their new homes, including a frame assembled and some bells with special canon-retaining headstocks.

Then, back to the museum to see more and watch a video of the process till the message came to say the casting was about to happen. We were led up to a balcony overlooking the casting process. Jim Barwise, churchwarden of St Bridget's, Moresby and new ringer-to-be, said a blessing before the first bell was cast then the hot stuff went in to the moulds. This was awesome and rather emotional to watch!

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After that we were allowed to wander round that area and talk to workers and look at everything before going back to see the rest of the museum and gather up the ringers for a ring on the foundry bells. As these were very light many people found difficulty with them but persevered and built up the numbers until we rang some very creditable rounds on the 12 - the first time for most. It was even just the second tower for one person.

The bus ride home seemed long but comfy and there was much sleeping. Andrew Moncrief entertained us all greatly for the last hour or so by sharing his immense store of memorised facts to do with bells, weights, cathedrals, towers, foundries, etc. Michael, the driver who had done his last

stint was looking amazed and astonished with each utterance!

The last ringers were dropped off before 10:30 and all agreed although it had been a long day it had been a very worthwhile one.

Photos: David Speechley, Elaine Lane and CdeC

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A personal point of view by Andrew Moncrief

Some of us went to the bell foundry at Loughborough. It was fantastic. It was also very interesting to see the bells being cast. We had a tour around the bell foundry and they showed us how a bell is tuned.

We had a go at sounding the bells in the museum and they sounded beautiful. What I didn‘t know is how the bells were tuned but I know now.

The tour guide was very good and he explained really well and clear.

Before we left the bell foundry we went up the tower to ring the bells there. I had a bit of trouble because I lost control of one of the bells but I managed to ring the light bells.

I want to thank Chris de Cordova and the staff at the bell foundry for such a wonderful and interesting tour.

Malleting bells in the museum

Late news: Following the final castings it was lovely to learn that Mary Barrass cast all the 8 bells for Moresby - the first lady founder to cast a complete ring for hundreds of years, apparently.

Restoring an old bell wheel

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Bell Advisor's Report

The start of the year was particularly busy with complete restorations of pairs of service bells at both St Cuthbert's Church, Embleton and St Thomas A Becket's Church at Farlam.

Cleator MoorThe eight bells at St John's Church, Cleator Moor were taken down and sent to John Taylor's bell foundry.

MoresbyThe value of the Cleator Moor bells has been exchanged for the casting and installation of a light eight of bells (tenor 5¼ cwt) at St Bridget's Church, Moresby.

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The bells are being cast at this moment and will be installed, it is planned, by Easter of 2018. In preparation for this installation, the two mediaeval bells were taken down from the present belfry and stored in the tower. The fittings and headstocks were badly corroded after decades of exposure to salt laden winds and the bells had not been rung in recent times. It is planned to restore the bells for ringing again, alongside the new bells in the tower, providing grants can be raised for their restoration.

A dumb bell manufactured by Matthew Higby and purchased by Chris de Cordova was then installed in the tower to allow teaching of a new band of ringers to take place in advance of the installation.

BamptonThe focus of this year (and last) is the project management of the installation of a new ring of six bells (tenor 5¼ cwt) at St Patrick's Church, Bampton. A businessman from the North East with lifetime associations with the Lowther valley offered to fund half of the cost of the project if the local community could raise the other half. The Lowther valley is thinly populated with only a few, small nucleated communities but the project was launched in October, 2016 and the community rose to the challenge. The order was placed for the bells only nine months later this summer and the bells were cast in October.

The work has already started in the tower with the removal of the clock and striking mechanism and the removal of the floor beneath the five 18th century bells on which the clock strikes the hours and quarters - 24 hours a day! The clock mechanism will be installed higher in the tower to create more space on the ringing floor for the bell ringers. The old bells were hung for full circle ringing but deterioration in the frame and the bell fittings meant that they were last rung full circle to mark the demise of Westmoreland as a county in 1974.

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The stays, wheels and sliders have been removed from the bells that now hang dead but the clock mechanism and chime will be reinstated when the new bells have been installed. The new bells will hang directly below them.

The old bells and frame will be treated with preservative and conserved for the future as part of the project.

Installation has already begun and, as I write this article, new floor joists and floor boarding have been installed and pockets cut into the stonework to accommodate the steel beams. The bell wheels have been made by Nick Meadwell, here in Cumbria! They have now gone to John Taylor's works to be fitted to the headstocks and then treated with preservative.

It is planned that the bells will be rung for Christmas and, of course, for the New Year when the whole community will be invited to the church to welcome in the New Year.

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Looking forward to 2018

Next year will bring the installation at Moresby but, perhaps of greater interest, will be an investigation into whether the bells at Christ Church, Silloth might be heard again. Simon Adams of John Taylor's and I visited the church in the summer and after some minor repair work managed to swing the fifth bell (that swings E-W) by hand through 180° and also the seventh bell (that swings N-S). There was no discernible movement in the tower structure. The next step will be to open up the old rope holes and overhaul the fifth and seventh bells completely so that they can be roped-up and rung full circle. The PCC and the Guild have agreed to share the cost of a structural survey by Adrian Dempster of Ward Cole, Nottingham who specialises in bell installation. These two bells will be rung in order to determine the structural integrity of the tower and, if all goes well, then ………. ?

Simon Adams and I also inspected the bells at St Elisabeth's, Harraby that are, at present, not rung. The bells and frame are in good condition.

Several of these initiatives have developed under the guidance of the Redundant Bells Committee chaired by Archdeacon Richard Pratt. The other members of the committee are Duncan Walker, Pat and Gareth Evans, Chris de Cordova, John Proudfoot and Ed Matthews. However, none of this work would have taken place without the practical help and advice of John Proudfoot and, more recently, Barry Garrett and Mike Rodger. A great team - thank you. Ron East

Obituaries

Geoff Ray

"I am saddened to report the passing of Geoff Ray,our friend and Tower Captain for almost 20 years. A service of thanksgiving [was] held on Tuesday 24th of October at 12.00 at St John's church Hensingham. Geoff was one of the founding ringers when Hensingham bells began ringing in 1992 after a long period of silence. He was faithful to the tower and gave much of his time to maintaining and running the bell tower. With help from local towers he built a band from within the church which I was privileged to join. He took a back seat when his wife Dot became ill. He was a humble man who would help anyone he could and was a devoted father to Simon and Paul. He suffered his illness quietly, wanting no fuss and passed away quietly at home on Monday. He will be missed greatly by all his friends. God bless you Geoff. RIP"

Gordon Gray, from the Bellringing in Cumbria facebook page

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Ed Perrott9th August 1944 - 9th October 2017

Ed was a truly amazing person. Bright, creative, problem-solving, eager, willing .... so much more could be said! This is my personal tribute (Chris de C)

He loved bell-ringing and was keen to increase his repertoire. The last thing I remember ringing with him, to move him, on was Cambridge places, within kaleidoscope ringing, with a view to ringing the 12- work then the 3rds place bell work before trying the plain course of Cambridge minor. I wish we had got there .....

Ed was born in South Monmouthshire, went to school in Poole, Uni (Science) at Imperial College then arrived in West Cumbria in 1964, to work at Sellafield. At that time, Irton had a large band of young people, several of whom lodged at Greengarth, where Ed stayed. They took him along and he learned to ring. Eleanor was already a ringer there, and .... love bloomed! They had married and had three children and two grandchildren, and stayed a close and loving couple until Ed's sudden and untimely death in October, leaving a huge hole in all their lives and those of their friends and fellow ringers.

Ed rang as a member of Irton band but visited several local practices regularly. I was always grateful that he and Eleanor came regularly to help at Cleator moor and this was so valued that we allocated time in the practice to extend their own ringing, with guidance, which they enjoyed and worked at. We got both him and Eleanor into St Simons, Kent and Little Bob and touches of Stedman at Cleator Moor practices. I was pleased that he 'poached' my two touches of Stedman doubles to use at Irton, and delighted that his last new achievement was calling touches of Grandsire doubles. It is great that, right to the end, he wanted to progress. He rang a few quarters, the last I think being on Tuesday, 18 October 2016 at St Bees, 1296 Plain Bob Minor, by Sellafield workers, to mark the 60th Anniversary of the opening of nearby Calder Hall, the world's first industrial scale nuclear power station, by HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Ed was creative in a practical way and I loved the construction he made for our rope heating unit at Cleator Moor (now in use at Arlecdon) He had good knowledge of cameras, wires etc. He filmed the bells at CM ringing and was ready to extend this to a monitoring camera at Moresby. He had good insight and ideas of what could be done. I am going to miss this expertise and willingness to help, as are many others, eg Tantony handbell ringers, Gosforth Am-Dram Society, those at Egremont church who benefited from his problem solving abilities... I also loved how he took care of Eleanor - such a delight to see them arm in arm escaping from the tower at Cleator Moor whilst the winds were trying to push them back in. A true 'Derby and Joan'. Lovely!

His funeral was an amazing tribute to him, and well attended by ringers. There was a nicely-struck service touch of Grandsire triples, for him. Quarters were rung at Egremont, Hensingham and Arlecdon. We all loved Ed's enthusiasm, his eagerness and passion, his excitement at a challenge or problem to solve, and his sense of humour, his drive and his willingness, his voice ....the way he tilted his head, the way he blinked ...... he is much missed by all!