Firefighters in the tower

You might have seen a fire appliance parked outside the Cornerstone on a Wednesday evening last month. It brought members of the Green Watch from Wokingham Fire Station who were visiting the tower.

We have shown many groups people the tower, from many different groups in the community, but this is the first time we have welcomed a group of fire fighters. As with all our guests we explained about ringing and how bells are hung, and we demonstrated a bell being rung. We also showed them the historic clock and the stunning views from the tower roof.

But this wasn’t just a ’jolly’, they were on duty. They have to be prepared for anything that might happen so they need to understand the special needs of any unusual buildings in their area, which includes the tower.

So as well as being fascinated by the historic structure they also wanted to understand how the tower was used, how the different spaces are accessed, what was in them, and how we would know if there was a fire.

One question I wasn’t expecting, but it’s comforting to know, was about what valuables should be rescued. While they deploy a team to tackle the blaze they also try to rescue whatever would be most important to save. The most valuable items in the tower – the bells – aren’t removable, but there are some historic pealboards, which the ringers spent nearly £1000 to have restored in 2017. There are pictures on the tower website at: allsaintswokinghambells.org.uk/ASTower/RingingRoom/PealBoards/  And in case you were wondering why they drove here in a fire appliance. It wasn’t to save a 300 yard walk – it was so they could make a quick get away if they were called out to deal with an emergency.

John Harrison (October 2024)