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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Robert Lewis asks an interesting question and one
that our trustees do consider important. It is not the intention of the Trust to
cause a reduction in the number of new bells cast and certainly for our
first few years of operation we closely monitored the projects to see if there
was an impact. My conclusions were the creation of projects that wouldn't
otherwise of happened resulted in casting of new bells and that this more than
offset the small loss of new bells that could have been cast for some
augmentations. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Our relocation figures are typically 30-40 bells a
year and in the unlikely event of all these been "lost" opportunties for casting
new bells, it is still only a small percentage of all the new bells cast per
year by the bell-founders.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Although I believe this to still be the case I did
have a conversation a couple of weeks ago with a Taylor's employee who has
recently been made redundant and he did think that our re-location efforts have
had an effect. As a consequence of the conversation I looked at our re-location
figures again and still believe that we are creating new work.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Dickon Love has made mention of the scheme at St
Magnus the Martyr and how it started by considering a redundant ring of bells.
The same can be said for St Paul's, Birmingham as originally a ring based on
four second-hand bells from Cradley Heath was proposed. However the level of
funding was such that the scheme quickly changed to a newly cast ring of
ten.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>What we have observed are factors that may
well be part of the current problem:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>1) Raw material costs (tin and copper) increasing
by over 400% since the start of the millennium. This has had a major impact on
the price of newly cast bells.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>2) The Ringing in the Millenium project was
fantastic for restoring and augmenting bells and many of the potential projects
that failed to get RITM funding have subsequently raised funds and work has
been completed in a several year window after the millenium. Has the sudden rush
of RITM and subsequent work over a short period caused problems for the
trade as new work has now fallen away? Would there have been a higher level
of work now if there hadn't been a rush for the millenium?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>3) Difficulties experienced by many
congregations in raising sufficient money to maintain the status quo of fabric
repairs and payment of the parish share (quota). The recession has hit
charitable donations as individuals cannot afford to give as much and
organisations have less money to donate. I believe </FONT><FONT size=2
face=Arial>PCC's are not so keen to launch major bell-restoration or
installation projects as they were a decade or two ago. The number of churches
with unringable rings of bells is increasing and although this is potential
future work for the bell-hanging & founding trade I suspect the actual
number of bell-restorations is falling. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>So a few more factors to consider!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Dave</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Secretary</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Keltek Trust</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
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