Bells project ends in song

A concert will be held today to mark the renovation of six historic church bells with links to the Darwin family.

The bells at All Saints’ Church, Elston, are being renovated for the first time in nearly 100 years in a project costing more than £13,500.

Five of the bells date from 1793 and were installed when the Rev John Darwin was Rector of Elston and Robert Waring Darwin, the great uncle of Charles Darwin, lived at Elston Hall. Some, if not all, were donated by the family.

A sixth bell was donated in 1912. The inscription says it was donated in memory of John Lloyd Wharton by his daughter, M. D. Darwin.

All the bells have their own unique inscriptions, including Let Us Lift Up Our Voices With Joy, Give No Offence To The Church, and I Call Sinners To Repentance.

A fundraising campaign to renovate the bells began last year after the church bellringers were told the bearings needed replacing and part of the fittings needed to be overhauled.

The bells, weighing from just under a quarter of a tonne up to half a tonne, had to be lowered before the work could be carried out.

A fund to pay for the work was started by Mrs Louise Hanson, whose husband, the late Mr Hans Hanson, was the tower captain. Mrs Hanson used donations from Mr Hanson’s memorial service last year to begin the fund.

Grant-giving bodies have made pledges of money, which will be taken up after the bells deliver their first successful peal once the work is completed.

Construction firm Balfour Beatty, which is building the new A46, has agreed to sponsor one of the bells.

The renovation work has been carried out by the John Taylor Bell Foundry of Loughborough.

To reduce costs two Newark district officers from the Southwell and Nottingham Guild of Church Bellringers, Mr Geoff Wells and Margaret Snyder, have carried out more than 140 hours of work grinding and painting the bell frames.

Villagers Mr James Hofton, Mr Don Sullivan, Mr Keith Dennis, Mr Malcolm Asbury and Mr Mike Turney also helped with the work.

The secretary of the parochial church council, Mrs Diane Hofton, was the main fundraiser for the project and helped to organise tomorrow’s concert.

She said the concert, being held at the church, would celebrate the bells and raise the final funds needed for the restoration project.

The concert will feature the Radcliffe Male Voice Choir and soprano soloist Lucy Hall, who has sung with the Cantamus Choir.

Mrs Hofton said the concert had been sponsored by Balfour Beatty, Eden Hall Day Spa, and Oakmere Park Golf Club. She said it was already a sell-out.