July 2012

There’s bad news and there’s good news this month.   It is generally recommended that belfries have an “MOT” every three years or so.  We hadn’t had one at Swanage for over five years so we felt it prudent to have one done this year.   If you were regularly swinging a ton of metal over your head you would agree!  We were very fortunate in getting a representative from the Central Council of ChurchBellringers to come and do this inspection for us, and free of charge. 

Problems were identified with the wheels (on which the  ropes which swing the bells are mounted) which were all dry and need treatment with a wood preserver.  The bellframe itself wasn’t too bad; just some signs of rusting expansion and it was recommended that the bellframe is properly cleaned down and repainted.  All the work needed inside the belfry is going to be done by the bell ringers themselves. 

In general the actual bells were found to be in good condition, with only moderate wear on their soundbows where the clappers strikes, and need no further work  at present.  This was not the case with the clappers, all eight have different varying problems; in particular the clapper bushes are worn in bells 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8.   Worn out clappers bushing and flattened clapper balls do much to cause ringers to complain about the running order and sound of the bells

In short, all the clappers need work on them:  They all need to be stripped down, checked for cracks and to have the balls built up with suitable weld and then ground back to shape.  All the worn out bushes need to be replaced, all the clapper joint pins need replacing and the locking pins need to be restored.   This will return then all the good working order and will reduce the impact points where they strike the bells.

We are very lucky that the Church has agreed to us having this essential work done.  We are removing the clappers after ringing for Evensong on Sunday 5^th August and they are then being taken to a foundry at Loughborough and will be away for a couple of weeks. 

So, no ringing at Swanage I’m afraid from Monday 6^th August until, hopefully, the weekend of 25^th/26^th August though it might be the first weekend in September.

And the good news?  I get a couple of weeks off!

June 2012

Having just been on holiday I think we sometimes fail to realise just how lucky we are at Swanage to have such a lovely peal of bells, let alone such a nice peal of 8.   Our holiday started off in Devon, on the Hartland peninsular where there is just one church, at Stoke, covering the whole peninsular. It is an extraordinary church with the second highest spire in Devon and you can see it for miles around.  It has a peal of 6 bells.  We had hoped to ring them but due to extra ringing over Jubilee and weddings they had decided to cancel their practice the week we were there.   We then went to the Isles of Scilly.  Now they didn’t have a peal of bells at all until 2009.  The six churches on the islands all only had one bell until the good folk of St Mary’s took action and mounted a very impressive fund raising campaign which resulted in them getting a peal of 8 bells by 2009.  Apparently the pitch and weight of the bells was set to try and maximise the ability of them being heard by all the “off” islands – Tresco, Bryher etc - some considerable distances!  Sadly we didn’t get to hear them ring – I imagine the noise in the churchyard must be very loud!

For  some unfathomable reason, ringing church bells where you haven’t rung before is called “grabbing”.   Recently I ‘grabbed’ Stratton in Dorset – another interesting tower where you can literally hear the bats in the belfry.  Goodness knows what the ringing does to their hearing but I was glad I couldn’t hear them whilst actually ringing!  Later this month I’m off to grab Brownsea Island which I’m looking forward to immensely.

 The Parish Fete is on 21^st July. We will be ringing for 15 minutes before the opening of the Fete at 12 noon and then afterwards the tower will be open for an hour until 1pm. You are all very welcome to come and watch us ring, or maybe even have a go yourself. 

Why don’t you come and grab Swanage?!