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<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>A few thoughts on this:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>a) I agree with David Ca=
wley that=20
it's worth recording what you can - for the record - without necessarily tr=
ying=20
to examine every bell in detail.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>b) If you're going to pr=
ioritise,=20
then any schools with clocks as well as bells should be high on the list=20
- and record the clocks (maker, date, type) as well as the bell(s). Th=
ese=20
bells are likely to be bigger / more significant, and less likely to be bla=
nk=20
brass-foundry ones. That said, in Birmingham (at least) nearly all the orig=
inal=20
clocks in these buildings have gone - replaced by non-striking synchronous=
=20
movements in the late 1950s (a single contract to replace the lot!), and th=
e=20
bells sold for scrap.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>c) A great many schools =
of the=20
bell-possessing era have already been closed, converted to other uses or=20
demolished. To some extent, a survey now is 30 or 50 years too late (as wit=
h=20
other Victorian public buildings, e.g. cemeteries where so many bells have =
been=20
sold / chapels demolished)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>d) School bells seem to =
have a=20
strange symbolic value as links with the past, and they are often kept in=20
replacement buildings as relics - harder to trace, as they lurk in strange=
=20
places (but, in compensation, are usually accessible when you find=20
them)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>e) There is the possibil=
ity that=20
important bells may turn up - old sanctus bells given to newly-built school=
s in=20
the 1850s, 60s and 70s - but these are extremely rare. In taking a reasonab=
ly=20
serious interest in school bells in three counties I've never found anythin=
g=20
like this</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>In sympathy with our list moderator on thi=
s, having=20
just a day chasing synthetic bells (Priory Square), non-striking timepieces=
and=20
other tail-end odds and sods in Birmingham this weekend. One has to s=
top=20
somewhere (and probably well short of all this!!!)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>CP</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>