The bells at Brading are by no means unringable but they are becoming increasingly difficult to ring, especially the treble, 2nd and 3rd. As a result, we are currently fund-raising to have our 8 bells restored and augmented to 10, so they may ring out for many years to come. The work will be done by the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough. There are several parts to the project, so we'll break it down into separate phases.

The Bells

Apart from the ball bearings, the rest of the fittings are from 1887 when the bells were augmented to 8. They hang in an oak frame with bells 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 all swinging north-south and bells 5 and 8 swinging east-west. The frame is on two tiers, with bells 2, 3 and 5 on the top and all others below. All the bells have canons, wooden headstocks, conventional stay and sliders, baldrick type clappers and cast-in-crown staples. All the bells were tuned (with varying decrees of success) in 1887.

Restoration

The bells will be retuned and rehung with all brand new fittings and framework. Bells 7 and 8 are listed for preservation so their canons have to be retained. To keep the dynamics of the ring even, all the bells will have their canons retained and have new steel canon retaining headstocks fitted. The bells will also have refurbished wheels and clappers, new pulleys, stays, sliders and a new steel bell frame. Two new bells will be added to create a ring of 10.

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Other Work

We also need other work doing within the tower which includes creating a new intermediate chamber where the current rope guide is, which will have two purposes. It's main function will be that it will house the clock. The clock is currently situated in the ringing room and takes up a lot of the space. Sharing the ringing room with a clock means that the ropes have to fall very close to each other. With the clock in its new position, in the new 'clock room', the ringing room will be freed up to make a comfortable rope circle. It will also make the bells quieter as it will act as a sound deadening chamber.