[Bell Historians] Repair or Renewal

[Iain Mitchell]

The industry in my experience tends to do as the customer asks, sometimes to the detriment of the ring..............However, one question that should be asked is this.
Are bells a musical instrument,along with the organ? if so, then surely it is in the best interests of everyone to ensure they are restored to a good as condition as possible, I don’t advocate recasting for the sake of recasting but I would prefer to see bells hung in decent frames and fittings. If EH or SPAB etc want to see old frames conserved then please will they pay for the removal and storage of aforementioned frames so they do not continue to rot high up in church towers, which in my opinion, will only cause more cost to the parishes in the future.
On the other hand, if they are just a toy for bellringers...................

IWM

From: Chris Pickford 
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 9:41 AM
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Repair or Renewal

  

George is right in what he says - on both counts, a) that the industry is much more willing to undertake repairs (where practicable) nowadays, and b) large national heritage bodies persist in trying to push this beyond the limits of practicality and performance

But please bear in mind too that Christopher's article was originally commissioned by SPAB (long-term campaigners for the respect and repair of old structures who have been taking an interest in the fate of old frames for a very long time), and that it was first written in 1989 (not 1993). 

In hindsight, we may perhaps now see that respect for old frames had been at an especially low point in the previous decades. We may feel - I certainly do - that the pendulum has now swung too far the other way, but the key point is that the whole climate in conservation is very different now from what it was in 1989 or even 1993. 

CJP

           
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