The Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers runs a tower maintenance award scheme. This has been designed to encourage bands of ringers to keep the bells in the Diocese’s towers in good working order, and to recognise the effort put in by those who look after their bells. A ringing installation has a long life if properly maintained, but can rapidly deteriorate if problems are not spotted and remedied. Although the bells are the PCC’s responsibility, in practice the ringers who use them are in the best position to keep an eye on them, and it is also normally the ringers who undertake routine maintenance and small scale repairs.
Here at All Saints we take pride in our bells and our tower, and we recently entered the Guild’s award scheme. Before the inspection in April, we gave the tower a top to bottom spring clean, as well as routine checks for bolt tightness, etc. We removed a lot of the dust, grit and cobwebs that continually accumulate, and emptied 4lbs of dirt from the vacuum cleaner at the end.
All our hard work was rewarded when we learned that we had been awarded a gold certificate. This is valid for two years, at the end of which, we will need to be inspected again.
John Harrison ( May 2007 )
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