<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3c.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<TITLE>Message</TITLE>
<!-- Network content -->
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1578" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>DOVE
3rd edition:</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Greenock St George 10, 18.1.7 in F Chiming only.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Come
on, use the resources available!!</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>GAD</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=154285208-06122006></SPAN> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
bellhistorians@yahoogroups.com [mailto:bellhistorians@yahoogroups.com] <B>On
Behalf Of </B>Robert Lewis<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, December 06, 2006 12:27
AM<BR><B>To:</B> bellhistorians@yahoogroups.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Bell
Historians] Redundant bells in Greenock<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV id=ygrp-text>
<P>Below is an extract from the Greenock Telegraph's website.<BR><BR>Does
anyone know anything about these bells and what is likely to happen to
them?<BR><BR>RAL<BR><BR><BR>____________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>_________<WBR>__<BR><BR><BR><B>GREENOCK’S
last traditional bellringer will stand down after 70 years service when his
church shuts its doors for the last time.<BR><BR></B>The pealing of the bells
every Sunday morning at St George’s North was a labour of love for Andrew
McKellar, now 93.<BR><BR>The church closes at the end of the month and it will
be the end of an era for both the man and the town when the bells cease to
toll for worship.<BR><BR>Andrew, of Kelly Street, first started ringing the
bells in 1936 and is now a legend of the belfry.<BR><BR>He was asked to pick
up the ropes when he was a member of the choir and hasn’t looked back
since.<BR><BR>Andrew said: “I will certainly miss it as I have been doing it
for so long.<BR><BR>“It has been a big part of my life and it is very sad to
see it go.”<BR><BR>In the past few years, his daughter, Elizabeth, helped him
up the stairs to the bell mechanism to let him carry on ringing.<BR><BR>She
said: “Even if he wasn’t feeling well, he still wanted to come to the church
to ring the bells.”<BR><BR>Andrew was part of the team that rang the bells to
celebrate the end of the Second World War on 8 May 1945, marking victory
in<BR><BR>Europe.<BR><BR>In the six years of conflict, the ringing of church
bells had been banned by the wartime government.<BR><BR>The traditional bells
and ropes, first installed in the church in 1889, are long gone.<BR><BR>In
later years, a keyboard has been used to peal the 10 bells.<BR><BR>Always
dedicated to his job, Andrew recalled going up the tower to hit the bells
himself with a hammer when one stopped working.<BR><BR>Neighbours close to St
George’s North would wake every Sunday to the sound of hymns chiming up and
down Nelson Street.<BR><BR>Church minister Reverend Douglas Hamilton said:
“Andrew was not only dedicated to the bells but also as an elder and a
property officer. It was a labour of love for him to serve the
church.”<BR><BR>Now as the days of St George’s North draws to a close, Andrew
is left with a final decision what to play on the last day.<BR><BR>He
said: “I will play Highland Cathedral and Passing of the Peace, which isn’t a
hymn but a song we sing in the church.<BR><BR>“I don’t know yet what else I
will play.”<BR><BR>St George’s North will close on 29 November when the Church
of Scotland congregation joins with nearby St Luke’s.<BR><BR>This story
appeared in the Greenock Telegraph on Tue, 14 Nov, 2006<BR></P></DIV><!--End group email --></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>