[Bell Historians] Bell frame for sale (of no practical use)

[sweb1]

Have spoken to quite a few people about this, and the general 
consensus is that they don't want ANOTHER 10cwt 6. There's far too 
many of them around as it is, why have another? I count 7 c10 cwt in 
the branch, what excuse is there for another? Why not have an easy 
going heavier ring (Yate are very tough)...

 > The frame is only part of the problem; this scheme has been 
struggling to
> get off the ground ever since it was started. It is true that the 
faculty
> currently granted calls for the existing frame to be recorded, and
> re-assembled for display in "an appropriate venue". The other part 
of the
> problem is that the individual who is driving the project takes 
little heed
> of informed advice. The current scheme involves replacing the 
cracked 15 cwt
> tenor of five with the 18 cwt ex-Writtle tenor offered by the 
Keltek Trust,
> and adding a treble. It is the opinion of the Wotton Branch 
ringers - and no
> offence is meant here to David Kelly or the Keltek Trust - that the
> ex-Writtle tenor is an entirely inappropriate bell to have as a 
tenor to
> this ring. The tower is a small one - suitable for a 10 cwt six at 
most -
> and with no history of ringing, a local band would have to be 
trained from
> scratch. This has been pointed out to the locals, and they even 
went to see
> and hear the marvelous 10 cwt Taylor six at Clodock, Herefordshire.
> 
>  
> 
> The faculty has not closed the door on re-tuning, and I believe it 
may be
> possible to remodel the bells into a lighter six with the present 
fourth as
> tenor. I have offered to do a tonal analysis of the bells, but no 
such
> analysis has yet been carried out by anyone. It is my opinion that 
the
> Thomas Mears ex-Writtle tenor of 1811 is unlikely to be tunable to 
make a
> good replacement tenor, and in any case the resulting ring will 
simply be
> too big for the tower, and unsuitable for a new band from a small 
village. I
> cannot see there being much progress in the foreseeable future 
unless there
> is a dramatic re-evaluation of the project.