BELFRY STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE

On behalf of the BRF Trustees we inspected the finished works at Hinton Admiral and Monk Sherborne. The work at Hinton Admiral involved the rehanging of the five bells with new fittings in the existing frame. The existing wheels have been re rimmed and adapted to fit the new headstocks and new sheaves have been fitted to the existing hard wood pulley boxes. Some strengthening of the bell frame was necessary. The bells now ring very nicely.

We inspected the finished works at Monk Sherborne in November and the bells have been rehung with new fittings into the existing bell frame. Four of the bells were retuned and some strengthening of the bell frame was necessary. This is a very good example of rehanging on modern fittings with conservation very much in mind. This ring has certainly benefited from the retuning resulting in a much improved sound.

On the 22 November 2014 we held a Belfry Maintenance course in the Alton and Petersfield District on behalf of the Education Committee, twelve students attended. There were two practical sessions, the morning session was preceded by a lecture on Conservation Bell Hanging given by Hugh Routh and a short lecture on Health and Safety in the belfry. The afternoon session involved a more hands on approach where a full inspection of the installation at Hawkley was carried out.

Once again I would like to place on record our thanks to Christine Knights-Whittome for making all the necessary arrangements which ensured the course ran smoothly.

Future BSC Membership and the Future of the BSC

As I stated in my report of 2014 I will not be standing for re-election this year. Also known to be standing down are Hugh Routh, Andrew Banks, Christopher Chapman, and Keith Gillings. The BSC is reliant on volunteers to keep it running and without these it will have no future, indeed the Belfry Stewardship Committee’s future is currently uncertain. Over the past ten years or more, a lot of effort has gone into maintaining church bell installations and assisting with church bell work. Many hours have also been spent collecting information for the guild’s bell stock survey. The BSC was formed in 1994 and, thanks to Hugh Routh, who has been a member since the start, I include the following paragraph from the first meeting:

• The first meet was held on Saturday 17th September 1994 at 15 Hurst Close, Valley Park (Phil’s house), Chandler’s Ford.

  Present were: Phil Watts (Chairman), John Nundy (Catherington), Barry Downer (Whitwell IOW), Hugh Routh (Steep), Martin Hough (Winchester Cathedral), Ken Waller (Nether Wallop).

  Aims for the committee were/are:

  Establishing the current condition of the bells in the Guild area by starting the Bell Stock Survey.

  Maintaining an up to date inventory of existing installations for historical recording and maintenance management

  Increasing overall levels of expertise across the Guild for inventory and maintenance

  Establishing a network of contacts to act as a focus for the promotion of belfry stewardship at local and Guild level

  Forming a pool of expertise and maintenance resources within the guild to offer support and practical assistance in the maintenance of bell installations.

The BSC has been in existence now for over twenty years and in that time a great deal of good work has been achieved. I joined the BSC in 2004 and became Convenor when Phil Watts stood down and I feel it important to thank those involved both in the work of the BSC, in particular for the bell stock survey, both collecting information and creating the database, and those involved in the many hours spent maintaining, servicing and assisting in major bell works.

My thanks therefore go to Phil Watts and all previous members, and I would like to place on record my thanks to the following members past and present who gave so much to the BSC while I was convenor, Andrew Banks, John Davey, Raymond Walsh, William Bickers-Jones, Hugh Routh, Graham Wright, Steve Castle, Keith Gillings, Christopher Chapman and John David.

We are certainly hoping that we can keep the BSC in existence and are presently looking at ways in which we can achieve this. The BSC is a most important part of the Guild and needs your support and so once again I would like to take this opportunity to ask anyone who has an interest in belfry maintenance and would be interested in joining the BSC to contact me or Vivien Nobbs, the Guild Master. Our contact details are in the Guild Report. Ideally it would be nice to have a representative from each District to form the future Belfry Stewardship Committee.

Roger Barber