On Saturday 27th April Mere Branch held a successful, fully subscribed, steeple keeping course at St Martin’s church Zeals, combined with a visit to St George’s at Bourton.
The tutor for the course was Matthew Bakewell, who is one of our Guild Belfry Inspectors. In addition to his power point presentation, which covered Health and Safety and all aspects relating to belfry maintenance, photographs of damage and of various types of pulleys and other fittings were shown.
The group then visited the belfry at Bourton, an older style wooden frame installation, with examples of wooden headstocks and a bell complete with original canons.
After the visit to Bourton, the group returned to view the modern steel frame installation at Zeals.
Following yet more coffee and biscuits, the group were then shown how to splice a rope, Matthew having kindly provided ready prepared twin pieces of rope for each attendee.
For those unsure as to what an Ellacombe Chiming Apparatus looked like, we were fortunate to be able to see the original frame and fittings that are at Zeals and were used, prior to the modern electronic version.
Following a Q & A session, Matthew was thanked by Branch Training Officer Judith Williamson and presented with a bottle of wine, on behalf of the Mere Branch. Our thanks also go to Roger Pitts, the Upper Stour steeple keeper and to St Martin’s church, Zeals for hosting this event.
Each attendee left with a folder containing literature regarding routine bell maintenance, together with a booklet detailing common problems with bells, the probable cause and the likely remedy.
Pictured are just four of the seven potential steeple keepers, with the course tutor Matthew Bakewell.
Len Roberts.
Mere Branch Chairman.
