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5 November 2009
Since the bells came back ten days earlier, Mark Pring, Simon Brewer and their team had been re-hanging the bells. This is heavy work in confined spaces. Now the bells were ready for their first trial since the tower and spire has been restored. All that remains to be done to get the clock connected to its hands and to get the strike and chime hammers hitting the appropriate bells.
The sky was illuminated with the occasional bursting firework when the bells started ringing again at 7:45 hrs on Thursday 5 November and this is the sight that greeted a visitor entering the vestry door at 8:08 pm.
Vestry view of the ringers in action
More ringing photographs
By the end of the evening several teams had rung the bells and the smiles on their faces showed satisfaction with the way the bells were performing - easier to pull than before. The bell hanger, Mark Pring, himself took part in the ringing and his whole concentration was focused on their performance which evidently pleased him.
St Bart's Bell Ringers with Mark (kneeling) looking happy
More ringing photographs
The Friends of St Bartholomew's Church, Lostwithiel, are delighted that this major project is drawing to a successful conclusion and to have been able to make grants totalling £40,000 towards the refurbishment of the tower, spire and bells. They are most grateful to all those who have supported them over many years and hope to continue making grants to St Bart's PCC in the years to come.
5 November 2009
With the bells due to ring this evening some images of the bells rehung in the tower were needed. With Bob's assistance the photographer clambered up among the bells and took these shots of the bell hanger, Mark (of Nicholson's), at work.
Mark hanging the bells
More photographs of rehanging the bells
26 October 2009
The bells and the clock came back to Lostwithiel at lunchtime on a wet and blustery Monday. Here we see Robert Peareth, recently Mayor of Lostwithiel, and Simon Brewer, Captain of the Tower (in yellow) carrying two of the six refurbished bell wheels into the church.
Since then (I am write this on 3 November 2009) Nicholson's, working closely with Simon and his team, have reinstalled the bells and the clock in the tower. Simon intends to ring the bells again at the ringers next practice on Thursday 5th November at 7.30pm.
Robert and Simon bringing in bell wheels.
Lots more photographs of the bells returning
Apologies - the Buffet and Race Night that was to have been held on 17 October 2009 was cancelled because of copyright problems.
The Captain of the Tower, Simon Brewer, arranged a coach to take fifty-six of us for a day trip which included a visit to Nicholson Engineering Ltd, bell hangers of Bridport, Dorset, to see the work in progress on St Bart's church bells.
For a while we wandered round entranced by all we were seeing and taking in the processes involved with the refurbishment of bells. Lots more works visit photographs
Taking it all in
Here are a couple of amendments to 2009 events.
The Events Page and FOSB Newsletter Number 2 (DOC and PDF) have been amended to reflect these changes.
Earlier in the year your committee decided to circulate a bi-annual newsletter. This issue is of particular interest as it coincided with the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall.
FOSB Newsletter Number 2 (DOC)
FOSB Newsletter Number 2 (PDF)
The church clock, the six bells and all the supporting iron castings and steel joists were loaded onto the bell hangers lorry to be taken to their works for restoration over the next three months. It will be good to have everything back in place so that this lovely peal can ring out, and the chimes of the clock can be heard once again.
Captain of the Tower loading the fourth bell
Beyond the bells the clock mechanism can be seen
The church clock at St Bart's belongs to Lostwithiel Town Council. Robert Peareth, in his capacity as Deputy Mayor, came along to affirm the Council's ownership before the clock was removed for refurbishment. The clock was made by Gillett & Bland Steam Clock Factory, Croydon, in 1878. The the three weights that drive the clock, the hourly strike and the quarterly chime have to be wound by hand every other day, and the heaviest if these weights is 15 cwt (three-quarters of a ton).
The clock is the property of Lostwithiel Town Council
Robert Peareth, Deputy Mayor, asserts ownership
This was the day when Captain of the Tower, Simon Brewer with his team of volunteers lowered the six bells so that they can be taken away for refurbishment and then replaced in a new frame. The manufacture of the new frame and related refurbishment is being carried out by the specialist bell hanging company, Nicholson Engineering Ltd. The work is expected to take three months. FOSB has made a grant of £8,000 towards the cost. More bell photographs.
"This one's mine!" Lowering the last of six bells
The Friends of St Bartholomew's Church, Lostwithiel (FOSB) is a registered charity which makes grants towards projects that preserve the fabric of St Bartholomew's Church. It raises money by running fundraising events and by seeking direct donations (recovering tax via Gift Aid where possible). FOSB focuses on raising funds for long term maintenance rather than for any specific project.
Clearly the completion of the Tower project will leave all our piggy banks depleted. And on top of that is still be all the routine maintenance work to catch up on! Looking ahead, prevention is better, and invariably cheaper, than cure, so the help FOSB needs most is for many people in, or with links to, the town to become active Friends and to get more of their friends to sign a standing orders for monthly donations they can comfortably sustain be they £1, £3, £10 or £30. A good target for many of us might be the price of a pint of beer each month so we can mentally say "Cheers!" whenever we glimpse this lovely building. Please look out for FOSB Gift Forms at events, and sign up to say "Cheers!".
The FOSB Gift Form along with our Trifold Brochure and Contact Details will be on display at FOSB events. If you make a donation and are a tax payer, please make a point of signing the Gift Aid Declaration within the Gift Form so FOSB can increase the value of your gift by recovering tax. If in doubt please do ring our treasurer on 01208 871111. For details please visit our Contacts and Resources pages.
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