Transporting the bells

On January 17th Whites sent a lorry up to Alvechurch and we loaded the eight bells for their trip to the foundry. The bells had spent the weekend in church so that the congregation could take a last look at them and see why we needed to spend quite so much money on their restoration. Graham arrived from Appleton just before eight o'clock and we made an early start on a cold and frosty January morning.

The plan was to drive straight down to the Whitechapel foundry, unload the three newer bells (treble, 2 and tenor) to be recast and then to return to the bell hangers at Appleton with the five old bells. All went remarkably well and we had the lorry loaded by nine o'clock.

The bells are now in the capable hands of the people at Whites and our next job is a thorough cleaning of the tower. Removing the frame left us with the dust and bird droppings that had collected between the timber and the walls over three centuries. We'll be up there Saturday with a shovel and face masks.

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