A visit to the John Taylor & Co Bell Foundry in Loughborough today, reveals that preparations for the new bell casting and augmentation is well under way. The bell which will become our Tenor was in the workshop, after making its way up from Gorran, Cornwall, just before Christmas. We took the opportunity to hoist it up on a crane and sound the bell, which you can hear in the video clip below.

Next door in the foundry hall, preparation work is taking place for the casting of the bells and the metal work we need to hang them. The ‘moulds’ are in the process of being created for the new piece of frame we need to hang the new treble; and the casting boxes for the new headstocks were all but ready for their metal. Also evident in the foundry hall were the ‘crooks’ (below) used to make the moulds for the new bells. These, of course, will be created in the next couple of weeks ready for casting day on 5th February.