Olympic bell

[Dickon]

Alan:
> What I actually said was "LOCOG and the contractors should be ashamed of themselves".

LOCOG yes, but why Whitechapel?

> Firstly, a lot of people are under the impression that LOCOG required the bell to be made in the UK

If that were true, Whitechapel would be in breach, which they are not.  LOCOG appears to have said something different to Taylors, and we are told that they have apologised.

> and that Danny Boyle (amongst others) wished the bell to have an East end connection.

His prerogative.  He is not bound by Government supply rules.  Let's face it, he could have decided he wanted a Russian bell, or a Romanian one.

> Whitechapel quite clearly haven't explored all possible alternatives in the UK-remember, part of the request from LOCOG was a UK bell, which Whitechapel quite clearly could not supply by casting "in house".

But it wasn't a requirement!

> The big question is why didn't Whitechapel ensure this bell WAS made in the UK?

Why should they?

> Why didn't Whitechapel liase with other UK companies to make this bell an excellent advert for buying large bells from the UK?

But the bell WAS bought from the UK - it just had parts of the process subcontracted abroad.

> There is much anger/frustration-call it what you will, by members of the general public on many forums and newspaper websites regarding this bell being made in Holland.

Stoked by the sort of misinformation you have given above, but which has subsided once the true story comes out.

> UK bell founding needs all the business it can get-the days of lots of new large rings and even new rings being installed is long gone.

So what proportion of the market share is giant bells?  Very small I'd contend.

> Sometimes, there is more to business than wanting a bigger gross profit. 

And sometimes bell foundries go into liquidation.

At the end of the day, Richard Grimmett at Taylors has been very dignified about the whole thing in the RW.  Taylors were understandably upset at the contracting process, which appears to have been justified with an apology from LOCOG.  Taylors also confirms that they have no beef with Whitechapel and the two companies continue to have a good relationship.  However your outburst suggesting that Whitechapel should be ashamed of themselves in accepting the contract comes over as sour grapes.

For those of us who marvel at the fact it has been made at all and is going to feature tomorrow, it is a special time.  The bell will speak for itself (and I am pretty sure the bell will have a cockney accent and not a cloggy one) and I for one look forward to it.

DrL