The pace hots up

 

In just six weeks the Appeal has leapt by a third to more than £130,000.

• The Parish Council’s Jubilee celebration raised £1500*

• Opening The Old Rectory garden raised £1300

• The garage sale at Withy Cottage raised £500

• The Bath & Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers granted £20,000*

• An anonymous donor has added £10,000 plus Gift Aid

• Over £1000 was given in memory of Alan Billinghurst

• Other donations totalled over £3000

 *   We don’t always count promises – only cash – but these are rock-solid, so we’re adding them in

 

We are deeply grateful to these donors and to everyone who has contributed up to now.  You know who you are!

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Your generosity has brought us to the point where we can sign a contract, confident that we shall raise the rest of the cost.  That is, of course, assuming that inflation and Murphy’s law don’t set us back.  With any repairs to an 800-year-old building, you never know what you will find until you have suddenly found it.

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We have permission!

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At the end of July the Diocese granted a 'faculty' - in effect, planning permission - that allows us to carry out the work.

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The process

 

If all goes to plan ...

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... the church will be closed for three weeks from late September.  Four tons of bells and about the same weight of bell-frame and joists have to be removed from the tower.  They will be lowered through the circular hatch in the vault of the crossing, directly above the altar.

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It is not safe to have worshippers or visitors in the church while this work is carried out, but we will arrange a time when you can come and see the bells before they set off for the Loughborough Bell Foundry.

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In October or November we shall organise a trip to the foundry to watch the old bells being transformed into the new, as the metal is re-cast: it’s a stunning scene with white-hot molten metal, and sparks everywhere.  The dedications of the old bells will be cast into the new ones, to maintain the link with their past history; and new dedications will be added.

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The new bells are tuned and the whole installation – frame and bells – is assembled at the foundry, to make sure everything works as it should.  Then it is dismantled again and brought to North Curry.  After a ceremony of dedication the church is closed once more while the new frame and bells are hoisted into place.