Restoration of ten tubular bells at Riddings

The following article has recently been published in the Ringing World by Anne Westman: Before I moved to Riddings (near Alfreton, in Derbyshire) almost four years ago, I had never come across any tubular bells, despite being a ringer for over 30 years! I quickly discovered there were ten such bells in the tower at St. James, Riddings. Unfortunately, it was obvious that these were in a fairly poor condition. The PCC agreed that funds must be raised to restore these to a safe and ringable condition, and Nicholson Engineering Ltd were contacted. Andrew Nicholson’s report confirmed our suspicions that the bells were in a very poor, more or less derelict, condition. They are a chime of ten tubular bells by Harrington & Latham of Coventry, and are the only ring of ten Harrington’s bells in Derbyshire. Fund raising began in earnest in early 2005. Riddings is not a wealthy parish and funds were to be raised independently of normal church fund raising. However, support for the project, both from within the village, and further afield, was overwhelming and soon the bank account started to fill up. Many hours were spent completing grant application forms and we were successful in obtaining five grants; from The Foundation for Sport and the Arts, Amber Valley Housing, Derby Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers, The Sharpe Trust (link currently not working!) and The Garfield Weston Foundation. We also organised a concert with the South Yorkshire Police Male Voice Choir, and organised many raffles, tombolas etc. A collection box in the local post office proved a good source of income too (it helps that the author owns said post office). In fact this box is so successful it has been left in place to raise funds for general church expenses. Eventually, sufficient funds were raised for the order to be placed. The bells were removed, with the help of volunteer labour, in the first week of January 2008, and taken to the works of Nicholson Engineering in Dorset. The bells, along with almost all new fittings, were returned at the beginning of March to be re-hung, again with volunteer assistance. The installation was finally completed on Monday 10th March, in time for a service of re-dedication to take place on Thursday 13th March. The bells are now chimed from a brand new oak chiming frame with ten mini sallies. There is a great improvement in the sound quality, and they are much easier to ring, and, most important of all, they are now safe and not likely to fall on any unsuspecting members of the congregation! We can now look forward to hearing bells in Riddings every Sunday morning.