PROJECT UPDATE DECEMBER 2009

I attended a meeting on 1st December with the Project Architect and the Contractor in order to carry out a final inspection of the Works. No problems were found and thus contractually a Final Certificate of Completion will be issued and the final balance of the retention fund will be certified for payment within the next 14 days.  I will also authorise the balance of the consultants' fees to be settled. All works contracted for will thus be satisfactorily ended.
David Mantell


PROJECT UPDATE JULY 2009

The bells were rededicated in March 2009 and the whole project (Bells and Tower repairs) achieved contractual 'Practical Completion' in April 2009. Final contractual Completion will be achieved in October 2009 subject to any minor defects that may occur being rectified.  There may be some additional decoration of the ringing chamber with memorabilia in due course.

Financially the project is within budget and at present the final tranche of the Heriitage Lottery Grant is being applied for. 
 

EMAIL FROM THE TEAM RECTOR

Email dated 8th May:

 

Team Rector: The Revd Edward Rennard, B.Th.

The Rectory, Highfield Road, Halesworth, Suffolk, IP19 8SJ

Tel: 01986 872602 Mob: 07958 191975 e-mail: edward.rennard@btinternet.com

From the Rector, the Revd Edward Rennard

8 May 2009

 

It was with enormous delight that I recently officiated at a service of re-dedication of Chediston’s bells by our Diocesan Bishop. The bells of St Mary’s were refurbished and re-hung by the people of Chediston for the people of Chediston.

 

The ancient art of English change-ringing is not a hobby, but a skilful art and it is done to the glory of God, to call people to worship, and to remind the whole community that they are being remembered before God. Ringing in Chediston began in 1572 and is very much a part of English village life across our nation.

 

Whilst the bells will continue to ring out over Chediston, we have from the start had the needs of those who live very close to their parish church in mind and are currently exploring ways of ensuring that we are as helpful to them as possible.

 

However, change-ringers need to be taught and need to practise, as ringing is a high-level skill. The community would have every right to complain if a dissonant clashing were to result from lack of practice.

 

Chediston is one of three six-bell towers in our benefice. Currently, there is a 90 minute practice alternating between Chediston and Wenhaston. In addition, there will be the occasional quarter-peal lasting around 45 minutes and the rare peal lasting around 2 hours 45 minutes - 3 hours. On these infrequent occasions, several weeks’ notice will be given, both on clear posters around the church and through the doors of those living very near to the church.

 

I am sure that with a spirit of tolerance and understanding between all the parishioners of Chediston, the bells will make an important contribution to the cultural life of the village. We have no pub, shop, school, or public meeting place except that provided by the Church, and we are glad to serve the community.

 

I would like to thank Chediston people for the massive amount of support given to those who worked so hard on their behalf to restore their bells in their tower in their parish church.'

COMMEMORATIVE PEAL SINCE THE

CHEDISTON BELLS REDEDICATION

Following the re-dedication on Sunday 15th March by Bishop Nigel of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich of the newly restored bells of Chediston, a commemorative peal was successfully rung on the morning of Monday 16th March. This was the first peal to have been rung on these bells since 1977, a gap of nearly 32 years during which the bells were declared unringable.

Read the Peal Record - Peal.pdf



REDEDICATION OF CHEDISTON BELLS

Sunday 15th March 2009 at 3.30pm saw Nigel, the Diocesan Bishop of St.Edmundsbury, officiating at a special service to rededicate the bells of St. Mary's Chediston. 

The sun shone and the sky was blue as a large congregation of visitors and villagers gathered in every available space in the church. This day marked the culmination of several years of dedicated hard work and persistence by many people to see the fruits of such labour and expertise rewarded by tuneful bells in a stucturally sound repaired 14th century Tower. The six historic bells rang out over the village after more than thirty years, thanks to the many funding bodies, grants and some private donations. 

 

Julia lights one of the smart new pew-end candles prior to the commencement of the service
















Harold Rogers tests one of the bells.














The congregation awaits the clergy procession 





















Maggie Pepper takes the weight off her feet prior to the clergy procession!















The clergy begin to process into the church.
















































Bishop Nigel enters the church











The following two photos show
1. Bishop Nigel dedicating the bells and entrusting them to the care of the Blyth ValleyTeam Ringers by placing a bell rope into the hands of the Tower Captain, Veronica Downing.
2. The first short ring directly after the dedication.












Bishop Nigel at the conclusion of the service


















Following the service, refreshments were served in the Schoolroom. Such were the numbers attending that a queue developed to be served! Inside a table running the length of the room was laden with sandwiches, pastries, cakes etc. A wonderful spread and much appreciated.






Maggie Peper had made bell shaped cakes to represent the bells in the Tower. Doug Cady and Rene Rogers cut the large bell cake.
Rene's late husband, Allan, had kick-started the bells project and Doug had rung the bells at Chediston for more than 50 years.

As can be seen, the refreshment table groaned with the delicious food provided.










One of Maggie's cake (prior to cutting and being devoured!
















Harold Rogers addresses those gathered in the Schoolroom and described his history of ringing bells and his association with the Chediston Bells Project.











This day was truly momentous and means so very much to Chediston where the church is our only public building, now restored for generations to come.

*******************

PRESS RELEASE

 

CHEDISTON BELLS RESTORATION PROJECT

“Give us a Ring!”

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

12^th March 2009

 

Bishop to Rededicate Chediston’s restored bells and church tower

 

This Sunday, 15^th March at 3.30 p.m. Nigel, our Diocesan Bishop of St Edmundsbury, will be officiating at a special service of rededication of the bells of St Mary’s Chediston. The church will be packed with visitors and supporters of this project which as taken several years and much hard work to come to fruition.

 

The six historic bells of St Mary’s church in the small Suffolk village will ring out over the fields once more after thirty years. With thanks to many grant funding bodies, together with private donations and local fundraising, work has been completed to repair the 14^th century tower, weld the cracked 5^th bell and rehang the entire ring in a new fabricated steel frame which has been installed beneath the existing 17^th century oak frame.

 

-ends-

 

For further information contact Veronica Downing on 01986 873184 or email veronica@veronicadowning.co.uk

MARCH UPDATE

Work to the tower is now virtually complete.  The bells installation including rope guides and ropes is also complete.  At present the ringing chamber walls are being cleaned down and hopefully we shall manage a couple of coats of limewash during this week. The Service of Rededication of the Bells takes place on Sunday 15th March.

There will no doubt be one or two minor matters to be addressed after 15th March and of course the financial reconciliation will continue to be progressed during 2009.

It is to be applauded that the great majority of the funding for the bells and the tower project has come from grants and funding bodies outside of Chediston village.  Such funding would only have been available for these specific projects and would not have been available for any other purpose in the village.

David Mantell

THANKS TO VOLUNTEERS

Thank you to those volunteers who gave their time to my work rota in assisting the bellhanger with the installation of the new bellframe and the bells: Peter Abell, Jason Busby, Jonathan Carman, Paul Davies, Graham Downing, Colin Humphries, Martin Sharman, Jeff Wells, David Warren. Your help was invaluable.

David Mantell

CHEDISTON BELL RINGING PROGRAMME

Test-ringing of the bells took place on Friday 13th February and was a great success. There was a band of very experienced ringers, including senior people from the Suffolk Guild, and all were impressed by the tone and the handling of the bells. Some minor adjustments to the treble and the fourth bells were carried out on Saturday morning. A slight problem was found with the tenor clapper, which had to be shortened to avoid fouling the slider, thus altering its centre of gravity. The clapper and slider from the tenor was removed and taken back to the bellhanger's works at Bridport, where these will be modified and returned very shortly.  The main contractor can now return to site to carry out the balance of the specified works to the church tower.


CHEDISTON BELL RINGING PROGRAMME

A proposed programme for ringing the re-installed bells at Chediston Church has now been published. 

Click on the link: BellsLetter2009FinalJan.pdf  In this you can make a comment or alternatively you can make any comment using the Contact Us tab on this website. 

BELLS RETURN TO CHEDISTON

January 19th - the bells returned to Chediston! 



These have been refurbished and retuned and arrived together with the new steel bell frame.  All were transported on a large lorry and we apologise for anyone inconvenienced by the road at the end of the church drive being blocked for a short period of time whilst offloading took place.  Volunteers braved the cold and wet elements to offload and place the items within the church. 
(photo credit Linda Davies)








 The photo shows the returned bells placed around the font ready for rehanging, once the bell frame is assembled.

(photo David Mantell)







PROGRESS REPORT MID-JANUARY 2009

As you may have noticed the last of the external scaffolding has now been taken way.  This took longer than expected due to illness of a scaffold team.  However, one can now see the extent of the external crack repairs and also the magnificent new oak louvres that have been faithfully reproduced.  The timber treatment works have now been completed within the tower and all now awaits the delivery of the new bell frame and the return of the refurbished bells on 19th January.  These installation are programmed to take approximately 2 weeks.






In this photo, the de-scaffolded tower and some of the crack repair works can be seen.  It will not be long before the fresh lime mortar colour merges with the original.

In this photo two of the new louvres can be seen

PROGRESS DECEMBER 2008

Scaffolding will be removed from the external faces of the tower during mid December. All external work is now complete.  Internally, all pockets have been formed to accommodate the new bellframe steelwork that is scheduled for delivery and installation in February 2009.  In the interim the timber beams and flooring at all levels within the tower plus the underside of the roof have to be cleaned down and treated against infestation attack.

Remember some volunteer labour is required in February to assist with the reinstallation of the bells.  Can you help?  If so, use the Contact Us tab on this website.


PROGRESS NOVEMBER 2008

Work has now been substantially completed to the external faces of the tower.  There is also a new rainwater pipe affixed to the rear elevation in order to divert water from a roof chute that previously allowed rain to run down the face of the walling. Internally the crack repairs have been completed and redundant items of the old bells' equipment and flooring removed.  Pockets have been formed and padstones provided in readiness for the new bell-frame steelwork that will be installed early in 2009.  Timber treatment works to the tower floors and roof should be carried out soon.

It is hoped that the external scaffolding will be dismantled very shortly.


CRACK REPAIRS TO TOWER - September 2008

Below are two photos of the south face of the tower illustrating the repaired cracks.  Compare these photos with the cracks further down the page prior to repair.  The lime mortar 'brightness' will soon mature and blend with the surrounding.

 

 

 

At present, pockets are being formed and padstones cast to accommodate new steelwork for the bellframe.  Also the window louvres that require repair/renewal together with their pigeon guards are being removed to use as templates for new/refurbished ones.


BELLS SEPTEMBER 2008

The bells have now been retuned and the cracked bell has been satisfactorily welded and also retuned.  They have been delivered back to the bellhanger ready for reinstallation in our tower early next year.


PROGRESS JULY 2008

The scaffolding is now fully erected.  Several of the cracks in the Tower have been 'opened-up' for inspection and removal of deleterious material.  Some further cracking and 'movement' has been identified and to these areas more 'opening-up' is necessary and additional structural repairs will be required.  Over the next few weeks, the cracks will be re-bonded with flints and resin tie structural repairs.


Here are a few photos idicating the progress to date:






Church Tower now fully scaffolded
















One of the cracks in the Tower fully opened viewed from inside the Tower.















A crack viewed from the scaffold outside the Tower















Another crack viewed from the scaffold outside the Tower









BELLS REMOVAL AT ST. MARY'S

July 1st saw the start of the removal of the bells.  As at 6pm that day, 4 bells had been lowered to the ground. The last bell (one that is cracked) was removed on July 5th and is off to the repairers.  All bells are being retuned and should be back hung in a brand new bellframe in early 2009.  A debt of gratitude is owed to those who gave up their time to assist in the removal of the bells - Graham & Veronica Downing, Jason Busby, Jonathan Carman, Paul Davies.

Bells in-situ














Allan Brittan (Nicholsons bellhangers) at top of trap steadying bell

Here you can see one of the bells coming down through the trap in the bell tower.  It is lowered by a low ratio block and tackle.

 

Steadying at ground level






 

The following sequence of photos tracks the travel of the bell down to the ground 

    Nearly down!














 

 

 

 

And here the bell is virtually down, ready to be placed on a pallet for moving to a lorry to go away for re-tuning.

Note the very good turnout of interested villagers and ringers who witnessed this historic event for Chediston.

     Jonathan Carman assisting
















And on to the lorry for re-tuning













Margaret Bloomfield (who used to ring the bells at Chediston many years ago) standing beside two of the lowered bells









TOWER REPAIR WORK STARTS AT ST. MARY'S




Work officially started on Monday 23rd June at St. Mary's with scaffolding being erected around the Tower in order to gain access to the perimeter wall cracking.  Protection is being constructed around the font and laid to the floor within the church.  The photo shows the first couple of scaffold lifts in place.

This is the progress of the scaffolding as at  July 1st.

Also note the neat appearance of the cut and strimmed grass in front of the church (cut and strimmed that day!)

 Doug Cady Rings Bells at Chediston

Doug Cady rang the Chediston Church bells at Evensong on Sunday 22nd June for the very last time before the bells are removed for repair and re-tuning. The Evensong Service was well attended and especially in Doug's honour with wonderful singing from the choir and with Doug choosing two of the hymns.  Sherry and nibbles were served afterwards and a toast was proposed to thank him for his dedication to ringing at Chediston.    



The photo on the left is of Doug multi-tasking for the last time this year!


The refurbished bells should ring out again in early 2009 so Doug will have a few months to get his strength together to carry on where he left off this year!  Well done Doug and we await your ringing of the re-installed bells!

Chediston's Bells Coming Out!