What an amazing year 2007 was for us in Hartington. At long last, after almost 40 years with no bells for full circle ringing and equally importantly no bell ringers, with an enormous amount of help from many of you, we have finally managed to install a fine ring of 8 bells and to train 16 people to ring them - just! There have already been many accounts of the project in our fund raising leaflet, at the Dedication Service and more recently in a article in "The Ringing World", so here is just a brief outline of the project and what actually happened during 2007.
On 27th January 1968, Gordon Halls the then Diocesan Bells Advisor carried an inspection of our 3 bell installation. He concluded that it was no longer safe to ring the bells full circle. There then followed many years of rather half-hearted attempts to do something but there was no visible progress until Gordon Halls and Mike Banks agreed to help in 1999. They developed a workable scheme for installing a ring of 8 bells. There then followed an extremely frustrating period of obtaining the necessary approvals from English Heritage, The Council of Care for Churches, Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings, The Peak Park Planning Authority and our Diocesan Advisory Committee. In 2006 a faculty was finally granted, and the serious fund raising for the £77,000 or so began. The grant of £5,000 and loan of £10,000 from our Association Bell Repair fund were an enormous boost to our fund raising activities and we were particularly grateful to Pat Halls for sponsoring a bell in memory of Gordon. Also during 2006 over 20 people from Hartington went on a number of visits to the Gordon Halls Ringing Centre in Eckington where Don and Hazel introduced us to the delights and difficulties of bellringing. After that excellent introduction with Ian Sterritt's help, 16 of us were placed at other towers to start the long learning process, in the hope that we might be 1LH 76 able to ring together by the time the bells were installed sometime in 2007. Also during 2006 we finally acquired the 6 redundant bells from Stanton in Peak.
During 2007 we continued our training at Darley Dale, Tideswell, Bakewell, Ashford-in-the-Water, Wetton and Alstonefield. In January 2007 our builder arrived in Church to undertake the delicate task of moving the font from what would become the ringing area and to create a new larger access in the clockroom floor. Bob Smith of Taylors Eayre and Smith then arrived to supervise the removal of the old bells and the lifting of the old wooden frame to the top of the belfry.
In February, a village coach trip was arranged to visit the Taylors Eayre and Smith Bell Foundry to see our two new bells cast.
Several visits followed from the bellhangers delivering and installing the new steel H frame, installing the new bells and fittings and reinstalling the old bells. Every bell, each fitting and every item of steelwork had to be manhandled from the delivery vehicles into the Church, raised by hoist up through the various floor levels and then manhandled into place. Apart from our own ringers we had a great deal of help with the installation from fellow ringers including John Boyle, Geoff Goodall, Ian Sterritt, Peter Humphrey, Mike Banks, Robin Lyon and Gail Lilley.
Finally on the evening of Monday 25th June, the work was completed and on Tuesday 26th June we had our first practice night run by Richard Taylor, in a very crowded Church.
On Sunday 16th September the bells were dedicated by The Very Reverend Alastair Redfern, our Bishop, and we were very pleased to welcome not only many of those who helped us from Derbyshire but from all over the country. We just managed to ring rounds without making a mistake - more by luck than skill. In November with the help and advice of John Thorpe supported by Giles Lacey our steeplekeeper we installed a simulator, which is going to become very useful. By the end of 2007 we had 6 new beginners waiting to learn.
We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our Diocesan Ringing Association for their technical expertise, financial support and particularly all of the time that individuals have selflessly given to help us learn to ring. We are especially grateful to Geoff Goodall and Richard Taylor for running our practices and to Eileen Goodall, Pauline and John Boyle and Ian Sterritt for the time they have given to help us.
If you read the recent article in "The Ringing World", you may have seen that we are not accepting visiting bands for 12 months. This does not apply to our friends in Derbyshire but we are only allowing one set of visitors per month for 2008 so if you would like to come just contact Janet Bray our secretary.