Calstock Bell Ringers
Bell Restoration Project
Bells on Display
With the bells successfully brought down from the tower the stage was set for two days of talks, visits and displays.
The first event was a presentation given by Owen Borlase about bells in general and the Calstock bells in particular; over a hundred individuals were keen to hear what he had to say. The audience came from all over Cornwall and beyond, in other words Devon.
Owen delivered a fascinating talk that covered a wide variety of topics including bell casting, tuning, types of bells and the Pennington family. The assembled company lingered long after the talk ended, enjoying the experience of seeing the bells on the floor and sampling the cakes provided by Mary Staff. Owen happily answered questions and conversation flourished until the end of the evening.
Thursday 21st March was all about visitors - lots of visitors.
During the day around 75 children from three local schools visited St Andrew's. They measured the bells and the length of a bell rope; made rubbings of the inscriptions on the bells; and completed a number of puzzles. Everyone enjoyed themselves enormously and had a splendid time. Every child was given a leaflet, a postcard and a pencil as a memento of their visit.
At the end of the school day adult visitors started to arrive as well as some younger children and a few dogs. Much the same activities were pursued: the inscriptions were rubbed and all the visitors were given a leaflet and a postcard. But the after school visitors were also able to enjoy wonderful cakes and refreshments, once again provided by Mary Staff and her team.
One final group of school children arrived on Friday morning bringing the total number of people to visit the bells to around three hundred. With the departure of the last of the little ones we would set about getting the bells on their way to Loughborough.