Technical advice on bell installations is provided free of charge by the Bell Consultants and all requests should be addressed to the Chairman of the Bells Advisory Committee. 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.
Support was given to the following PCCs in 2007.
Alfreton, St Martin (8 bells) The PCC has decided to remodel their existing ring so that the 7th becomes the new tenor bell, resulting in a lighter ring of eight which can be installed in a single level steel frame. A new treble will be required and the existing treble will be recast as the new second. (The old tenor will be retained as the clock hour bell). EH, CCC, SPAB and the Local Authority have been consulted and quotations received from bell hangers. Some old beams will be dendrology checked to establish their age.
Breadsall, All Saints (8 bells) Inspection of the bells revealed that six of the frame pulley boxes need replacement as do the sliders on bells 3 and 4. The clock hammer mechanism on bell 8 needs urgent attention before it causes serious damage to the bell and its fittings.
Cotmanhay, Christ Church (1 bell) Some attention is required to the plain bearings and the clapper.
Derby, St Peter (8 bells) A technical proposal was made to reduce the external sound levels of the bells by improved sealing of the existing louvre shutters.
Hartington, St Giles (8 bells) Taylors Eayre & Smith repositioned the existing wooden frame (complete with the old 3 bells) at the top of the tower and installed 8 bells in a new frame underneath. The bells were dedicated on the 16th September 2007.
Hognaston, St Bartholomew (3 bells) Advice was given on how to improve the operation of the Ellacombe chiming mechanism.
Mackworth, All Saints (3 bells) Recommendations were made for altering the run of the ropes.
Old Brampton, Saints Peter and Paul (6 bells) Advice has continued to be given to the PCC and Architect for improving the rope circle and replacing the bell chamber floor with one offering better sound attenuation. Work should begin and be completed early in 2008.
Riddings, St James The ten tubular bells have been removed by volunteers and will be refurbished by Nicholson Engineering in 2008.
Sandiacre, St Giles (6 bells) The Bell Consultants are now fully involved in the project to refurbish this bell installation which is too heavy for the tower. It is planned to remodel the ring with the current 5th bell as the new tenor enabling all bells to be installed lower in the tower in a single tier frame. A new treble will be required and possibly a new 3rd. Quotations have been received from bell hangers.
Shirland, St Leonard (6 bells) One of the cast iron frames for bell 2 has fractured and so all ringing has ceased. Recommendations for a repair have been made by the Bell Consultants, however the PCC is keen to have a guaranteed life of 100 years for the installation and is planning to have the frame rebuilt with new grillage beams.
Taddington, St Michael (4 bells) The Bell Consultants repaired two of the bell wheels enabling ringing to continue.
Whaley Hall, Community of the King of Love. The Community is considering incorporating a bell tower as part of a redevelopment of their site. The Bell Consultants were invited to provide technical advice concerning possible use of 5 redundant bells (taken from a clock tower in Crewe) hung in this tower for full circle ringing and augmented to at least a ring of 8 bells. The Community envisages a facility offering residential courses on change ringing.
Youlgreave, All Saints (12 bells) Taylors Eayre & Smith augmented the bells from ten to twelve bells (plus a sharp second) during early January 2007. The new bells were dedicated on the 13th January 2007. The Bell Consultants have now proposed a method for external sound control of the bells which is under review by the PCC.
| Number of Bells | Total Number of Rings | Unringable Rings |
| 12 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | 39 | 0 |
| 6 | 54 | 2+1* (Sandiacre, Shirland, Church Gresley*) |
| 5 | 6 | 1 (Chelmorton*) |
| 4 | 7 | 1 (Elvaston) |
| 3 | 25 | 10 (Chaddesden, Elmton, Fenny Bentley, |
| TOTAL | 138 | 13 + 2* |
Since the last report the Hartington PCC has replaced its 3 bell installation with an 8 bell installation and so we have one more ring of 8 bells and one fewer ring of 3 bells.
This year we have identified by (*) a new category of "unringable" bells: these are otherwise ringable bells which are prevented from being rung by the church architect's structural concerns with the tower. In this category is Church Gresley, whose tower has foundation problems, and Chelmorton whose tower has structural problems due to the loads imposed by the spire. This creates a total of 11 unringable bells in this new category. We can have little or no technical influence over the resolution of these problems.
Unfortunately the 6 bells at Shirland became unringable for the reasons already described earlier in this report and the remedial route chosen by the PCC will take a long time to complete. On the brighter side, the PCC at Sandiacre is actively pursuing restoration of their ring of 6 as described earlier in this report.
Thus taking all categories of unringable bells, 57 out of a total of 843 bells are unringable. This means that 10.9% of peals and 6.8% of bells are unringable.
Footnote. If rain is entering your bell chamber then use of Galebreaker sheet material is often a good solution, although the church architect’s approval should be sought first. Galebreaker is strong PVC coated woven polyester sheeting with closely spaced tiny holes. Placed close up against the inside of the louvres, it stops the birds and rain getting in whilst still allowing ventilation. It readily transmits sound. John Cater has a large, 1.8 metre wide roll which he is willing to sell on at a discounted price of £15.65 per metre.