ST GILES BELLS - PREPARATION
The photos on this page were taken during preparation for the installation of the new bells in June 2012. Photos by Carl Scarlett and Nick Reynolds. Click to enlarge.
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| Taylor’s of Loughborough, slightly confusingly, have two Paul Masons and it was Paul M Mason that arrived on the Monday equipped to start the building work, necessary before the bell frame could be installed. | |
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| A number of willing volunteers assisted Paul with unloading his van and getting his equipment into the tower ready for serious work the next day. The work involved drilling out the pockets in the tower walls to take the bell frame and then the frame was delivered separately by Andrew Mills a few days later and hoisted into the tower in sections where it was assembled and carefully levelled. | ||
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| Paul also installed a new floor below the new belfry to provide sound insulation so the ringers aren’t deafened and also thus creating an intermediate chamber. | ||
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| Once the bell frame was bolted together and levelled, concrete had to be poured into the pockets in the wall where the beam ends rested and this needed to be overseen by the structural engineer as a condition of the Faculty. | |
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| This was done on Monday, 28th May and the cement left to cure overnight. The cement pouring and the visit by the structural engineer was quite a logistical exercise as we had no less than two funerals that day which we had to work around! | |
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Nick Wilkins, June 2012