RE: [Bell Historians] Keltek Trust and bellfounding

[Dickon Love]

Robert Lewis:
>  While I can see that the "re-homing" of old bells of a reasonable
>  (and proven) quality has its obvious attractions - and perhaps
>  enables some projects that might not otherwise get off the ground - I
>  do wonder about its overall impact on the industry, especially in
>  terms of the market for casting new bells.

This is an interesting question.  When I first seriously considered putting a ring of bells into St Magnus the Martyr, I was prompted by the availability of the old ring of 8 from All Saints Northampton.  I worked out we could probably have them purchased for under £20k and popped into the old frame for another £50k or so.  This made the prospect of this project more doable, and made the fundraising requirement less daunting when presented to the church.  As it happens, things moved on very quickly with the realisation that we *could* raise more funds and do a better job.  The question I sometimes ponder is whether I would have embarked on a £300k project at the very outset.  Nowadays (and having project managed this one) the answer would be a definite yes, but without the experience of the past 5 years, I do wonder.  So in this instance, Keltek's work proved to be a catalyst for a considerable spend.

DrL