Returning the bells.
After three months of silence from the tower the bells finally arrive back at the church. Things rarely run smoothly on restoration works and ours was no different. A car managed to run into the back of the lorry carrying our bells while stationary on the motorway! Delaye us getting our bells back by a day, though the time was well used installing fixtures and fitting and the lifting gear needed to get the bells back in the tower.
Unfortunately the collision had broken the tail-lift, you can see the bend in the track just below the lorry floor.
Luckily we have contacts in the town and someone with access to a telehandler was found and agreed to come along and unload the bells for us.
As it happened the telehandler sped the unloading process up.
Overall it took less than an hour to get the bells off the lorry.
As is traditional picture opportunity for bell restoration projects we lined the bells up in order.
The front bell is our new Sanctus bell cast using the metal from the canons that had been cut off with additional metal to make a bell 0-3-24 and dedicated to all those who had rung at Weighton over the years.
The line of bells from the Tenor end.
The difference in height with the new headstocks hint at how succesful this project will be in improving the go of the bells.
After the photo ops it was time to get to work lifting the bells.