[Bell Historians] Comical Reporting

[E. John Arthur]

--- In bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com, Alan Birney
wrote:
>This person is not in the trade, they act by "cold calling", 
which is the problem." 

I know that churches in York Diocese have been warned about "cold callers". As this has been issued on a number of occasions but how can you pastorally stop independent parishes.

>"There is no garauntee that they have adequate 
insurance (if any) and they are not covered (as far as I can make 
out) under YACR insurance as the jobs are done for financial gain. 
Some of the work is not covered by YACR insurance anyway, even if it 
had been done for free."

Alan I agree with your comments. The Association I believe only has Accident cover and Public Liability. It does not have any form of Professional Indemnity Insurance. The wording in the Association report however makes no reference to jobs done for "gain".

>"Having said that, if any Advisor turns a blind eye 
to stuff like this and allows it to carry on and some damage occours 
or someone is hurt, on thier own head be it- where the advisor would 
stand legally, I don't know."

If something is published then it is in the public domain. It could well be that church authorities see a copy. The role of the Advisor does not have the authority of something like a planning officer of the local authority. They are appointed to serve a committee and should report to that committee (at least that is the practice in York). Thus requests from parishes here are always passed through the DAC Office and written reports here, are always adopted by the committee, before being sent to the parish. Again with applications for faculty these comments go to the committee who discuss them before they are sent to the Chancellor who is the ultimate authority. I suggest that if Alan has concern about any installation he writes to the Chancellor. Advisor can only go into parishes after a request has been made usually by the parish.

I think any liability lies with the parish and their insurers in ensuring their installation is safe. EIG are now, in their guidance under H&S measures, instructing parishes that regular checks of items including bells should be carried out.

.>"The sad thing is that it is the Church who loses out- for a 
bit more money, they can have the job done by persons who are 
insured and if anything should go wrong, at least they have a leg to 
stand on. It is unbeleivable that some incumbents think that by 
having a job done with a faculty (where required), the faculty makes 
a job expensive- Perhaps a little more PR and education is required 
on this."

I agree whole heartedly about the cost of work although low cost jobs always look atractive to poor parishes. I cannot comment in detail about incumbents but I know many do not like the paperwork. It is sometimes the case that this part of their load is taken by a member of the parish and even then there seems to be a reluctance to complete even these forms, which are very simple these days. It might also be useful to know that providing a parish applies in advance of the work starting they normally do not have to pay for Faculties in York. If the Faculty is retrospective then it is common for the parish to be asked to pay. Thus the Faculty does not add to the cost of the work if applied for at the appropriate time. In other Diocese the situation may be different.

John Arthur



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