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<DIV>While I was doing some family history research at The Society of
Genealogists, I came across the following intriguing story:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On 23rd May 1823, Sir Ralph Woodford, Governor of Trinidad attended the
consecration of Trinity Church, Port of Spain, Trinidad. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The following extract is taken from “<U>The History of the West Indian
Islands of Trinidad & Tobago 1498 - 1900</U>” by Gertrude Carmichael</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>“<EM><FONT color=#0000ff>Woodford was very generous to the new
church. He … gave … a peal of six bells. The bells he was unable to
hear, for though they were mounted with wheels and ropes, there was no one in
the colony who could ring… Later a Mr Fuller and six others “who felt
inclined to learn the art of ringing” and who had gone to the expense of
purchasing a set of sixteen handbells and who “expected a ringing tutor from
England”, came forward with proposals for organised bell-ring. In spite of
this Woodford was destined never to hear his bells ring, for the great
earthquake of September 20th, 1825, damaged the church and the tower had to be
rebuilt, the bells not being rehung for some years</FONT></EM>.”</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>1. Do we know who cast these bells? <BR>2. Who hung
them? <BR>3. How the project was completed without Governor Woodward,
or his project co-ordinator being told that trained ringers would be required to
ring the bells?<BR>4. Who rehung the bells years after the
earthquake?<BR>5. What happened to these bells. Are they still there
and/or in use?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Malcolm Bland<BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>