[Bell Historians] Charlton Adam, Somerset

[davidhird_uk]

As a past bells adviser involved in restorations before and at the 
start of the current 'conservation' regime, I think Chris Pickford's 
comments strike a fair balance in what is required but it often ends 
up as a sort of battle with the strongest side winning. Mostly it 
seems the conversationists get their way and produce something that 
may be a museum piece but is largely of little use for practical 
ringing.

As long as the conservation results in a ring of bells that can be 
rung by a fair band without undue effort and the resulting sound 
doesn't offend the ears, then it is worthwhile. If it does not, then 
it is an appalling waste of resources and in this day and age I 
cannot believe a practical solution can't be worked out especially 
if practical ringers are actually listened to by the self styled 
experts.

A good example of what can be done is Berwick which is a project I 
managed. The original installation was useless in terms of fittings 
and frame and some bells were actually broken and the others were 
not well toned. We decided that the bells could be turned into a 
good 'old style' ring of fair tone with retuning but the frame had 
to go despite a last minute attempt by EH to get in the way of this. 
Thankfully by the time they arrived on the scene, a chain saw had 
seen to the frame and it was little more than firewood.

In the end they became an easy going, old style sounding ring 
retaining the challenge of a 21cwt 6 and yet perfectly handleable 
and strikeable by the new band that had to take them over and use 
them weekly. If the preservationists had had their way, this would 
not have been the case and they would have ended up a hard going 
poor toned ring that, other than for a novelty grab or peal, would 
not have been put back into regular use.

Now if you want an exmple up here of where it did go horribly wrong, 
then visit Sedgefield where an opportunity to preserve 4 old bells 
within a good revamped ring of 8 in a new frame was ruined by EH and 
the result is a bit of a mess with a poor toned ring in a weak frame 
that is gradually getting worse again despite a whole host of people 
pointing this out. Maybe this could have been prevented if the 
locals had put up more of a fight as I suggested. In the event, when 
they need to be rehung again, I think the bill should be sent 
straight to EH as it is essentally their liability.

David