Technical advice on bell installations is provided free of charge by the Bell Consultants and all requests should be addressed to Mike Banks, DDA Bell Consultant. Requests should be in writing with the authority of the PCC. The Bell Consultants’ out of pocket expenses are met by the Association’s Bell Repair Fund to which many PCCs with a ring of bells in the Diocese are affiliated by paying an annual donation. The Bell Consultants also offer a bell maintenance course.
Work carried out in 2013 by the Bell Consultants
Help setting up new projects
Sandiacre, St Giles (6 bells). The Bell Consultants continued to provide technical support throughout the new installation work which was satisfactorily completed with the dedication service being held on the 24 November. An acceptable sound level of 77 dB(A) was measured in the ringing room with all bells ringing.
Crich, St Mary (8 bells). The PCC wish to install a kitchen and toilet at the base of the tower. Since the bells are currently rung from the ground floor, a new ringing floor will have to be installed above, complete with a safe means of access. The Bell Consultants attended a project meeting to re-emphasise their recommendations made last year which describe key requirements to be met to enable the bells to continue to be rung safely and easily.
Alfreton, St Martin (8 bells). The PCC now has most of the funds needed for their revised bell installation. The Bell Consultants attended the PCC’s launch meeting to answer technical questions.
Technical Inspections
Inspections were carried out at 13 towers as follows;
Shardlow
Repton
Duffield
Cubley
Bamford
Clowne
Allestree
Old Brampton
Stanton by Dale
Eyam
Sandiacre
North Wingfield
Denby
Final inspections at Repton, Cubley and Sandiacre confirmed satisfactory completion of remedial work on the
bells, so clearing the way for payment of BRF grants to the respective PCCs. Full technical reports were
produced for all of these inspections and these reports will appear on the DDA website.
Engineering Work
The DDA purchased a Saxilby Ringing Simulator during the latter half of 2012 and the Bell Consultants
constructed a portable steel tower to support it during the early part of 2013. The simulator has been used
extensively throughout the year for training purposes in several Derbyshire locations.
Bell Maintenance Course
The Bell Consultants ran a bell maintenance course at Belper on 5 October which comprised a morning
classroom presentation followed by hands on experience of the bells in the afternoon. Sixteen people
attended, each receiving a CD containing a copy of all presentation material for their future reference.
Inventory of tower bells hung for full circle ringing in the Derby Diocese
| Number of bells | Total number of rings | Unringable rings |
| 12 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | 39 | 0 |
| 6 | 54 | 0 |
| 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 4 | 7 | 1 |
| 3 | 25 | 11 |
| Total | 138 | 12 |
Sandiacre’s 6 bells became ringable once more during this year, but Allestree’s 3 bells were classified as unringable. In summary, 37 out of a total of 843 bells are currently unringable due to problems with their bell installations. This means that 8.7% of peals and 4.4% of bells are unringable.
The 6 bells at South Normanton will be unavailable for most of 2014 while repair work is carried out to the stonework in the tower – this work is unrelated to the bells.
Mike Banks & Robin Lyon – Bell Consultants
