Ringing the 8 again!

 The Worcester Catherdal young ringers came for a visit, and this meant that all 8 bells were rung for the first time since February 2020.

 Here is a view from above.

Swing time correction

 One of the important jobs still outstanding was to bring the swing times into alignment. These are measured by the "Oddstruckness Meter" I make. Getting the timings correct will help improve the overall standard of the ringing and it is worth taking the time to get these fine details correct.

To do this, two pieces of metal weighing a total of 1.5kg were bolted to the vertical spokes of the wheel as shown here.

 

 

This slowed the bell down by 25ms and the swing time curve now looks like this :-

As you can see, the timings are now very close to the ideal curve (thin black line).

Tidying up

 We've managed to do a bit more tidying up. This is a rather large task, but it means that we are closer to the end of the project and will be well worth the effort.

 Not only did we remove 5 more sacks of rubbish today, but the lifting fame and beam were taken down and stored in a corner of the belfry.

This opens up the following view

From right to left are bells 1, 8, 4 and 5 with 2 in the foreground.

The large lifting beam over the frame will be kept in place.

Family bubble #2

 Another family bubble work session.

The platform in the ringing room window has been completed.

This is a seating area and the floor boarding protects the fragile masonary underneath from damage caused by being stood on. It also bungs up a large gap which is very drafty in the winter!

All that is needed to complete the job is to replace the bench seat some 8" higher than it once was.

The ringing room is now ready for a new carpet.

 

Family bubble

 One of the outstanding jobs has been to replace the trap door in the ringing  room.

One of the ringers has to stand on this while ringing, and it has been noticeably springy for a while. This was due to it being slightly rotten and full of woodworm holes. Strangely enough, the rest of the floor is absolutely fine.

Today, my daughter and I made a new one. It's not quite finished as it still has no hinges and needs cutting into two sections just like the old one.

 

Public Speaking

 During the lockdown, I've written an illustrated presentation on Strensham which I've now given to several groups using Zoom. I gave a condensed 10 minute version to the Churches Conservation Trust's annual award ceremony at the start of March. You can see this here.

 

The full talk lasts about 45 minutes and covers the history of the church and the local Russell family who were the Lords of the Manor of Strensham for over 500 years. This is a fascinating story which includes numerous MPs and the Russell family's involvement in the First English Civil War.

There is also a virtual guided tour of the church with the views off the top of the tower.

The story is brought up to date with the project outlined in this blog of the restoration and augmentation of the bells.

If you are part of a group, and are looking for a guest speaker, then please get in touch via the comments.

Money for old rope

With no chance of ringing at Strensham on the horizon, I've been putting together some material for a presentation on Strensham's church and bells. The idea is that this could be presented via Zoom or eventually in real life to an audience once the restrictions are lifted.

In compiling the material, it turns out that there is far more information available than would fit into a 45 minute presentation.

One of the things I left out it this little story from 1998, shortly after I took on looking after the tower and bells for the Churches Conservation Trust.

I was contacted through the Churches Conservation Trust’s local representative Andrew Pike by a TV production designer called Michael Pickwoad. Michael was after some old bell ropes for use as props in an episode of Kavanagh QC. This was filmed at All Saints' Church, Shirburn, Oxfordshire.

At Strensham, I’d just removed the old and very tatty ropes and put some better ones on. These old ropes were hired to the production company and we received a donation of £20 for their use.

This clearly is where the phrase “money for old rope” comes from!

The episode is on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxzX4JG0e84

Go to 32 minutes and 6 seconds and you will see actor JohnThaw touching the ropes.

Michael also borrowed the ropes for a version of Cider with Rosie which was being filmed at Avening church near Laurie Lee’s home in Slad. This time however, the footage ended up on the cutting room floor…