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<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Pleased to see the website pages, which
provide some useful extra information - including the weights for the back six
(tenor 19-3-3 as installed)<BR><BR>Soham do seem to have begun life as a six in
1788, followed by augmentation in 1790. There are two relevant press
reports<BR><BR>1. Extract from the peal book of the Union Society of Newport,
Isle of Wight, quoted in <EM>Bell News</EM> 10 September 1910:<BR><BR>October
8th 1788, the new peal of six bells at Soham, in Cambridgeshire, was opened by a
Society of gentlemen of Ely and Soham, with a Peal of Oxford Treble, Court, and
Plain Bob, consisting of 720 Changes each<BR><BR>2. Report from the <EM>Norfolk
Chronicle</EM> Sat. 4 September 1790 (advertisement), quoted in <EM>Ringing
World</EM> 2 February 1990: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>"RINGING, A New peal of EIGHT BELLS, in
the key of E, is now completed at SOHAM, in CAMBRIDGESHIRE, by Thomas Osborn,
Bell-Founder at Downham, in Norfolk; and will be opened on Thursday, the 9th of
this instant September; when the company of Gentlemen Ringers will be esteemed a
favour, By their humble Servant, JOHN REDGRAVE, At the Crown Inn, at Soham".
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Editorial note: (by David Cubitt) A ring
of six bells had been installed at Soham two years earlier and a subscription
then opened for two further bells</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>CP</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>