8am & 10am Sunday Mornings Tel:01628 633113 stmichaelsbray@gmail.com

The Church Bells

Sunday Services

Ringing is from 9.15 to 10.00 a.m. every Sunday. Evensong ringing is by arrangement. It is best to check before setting out to ring with us.

 

Practice Night

Thursday from 7.30 p.m. We cater for all standards of ringing up to Surprise Major and visitors are welcome.

 

The Bells

We are fortunate to have a fine ring of eight bells, the tenor weighing 24cwt. This bell is 53 inches in diameter.

 

Tower Officers

Captain Deputy Captain (Vacant)
Margaret Ross
Email:maggieross@live.co.uk
 
Secretary Treasurer
Mrs Wenda Fowles
10 Lynden Close
Holyport
Berks SL6 2LB
Tel: 01628 629538
Mary Cross
Steeplekeeper
John Payne

Website: http://www.ringing.info/
An index to many websites related to bellringing

bells

The six largest bells were cast at various times between 1612 and 1914 and the treble and second in 1948. In the early 1900s the bells had been installed in a strangely designed steel frame and this had never been entirely satisfactory either for the ringers, as the frame movement made the bells difficult to ring, or for the tower itself as structural engineers who were consulted in the early 1980s believed that the stonework was being damaged. In 1985 the bells were rehung in a new frame by the Whitechapel bellfoundry who also retuned the bells and supplied many new fittings. We now have a ring of bells that sound pleasant and are easy to ring.

Inscriptions of the Bells

Bell Note Weight
(cwt-qtr-lb)
Inscription
Treble D 6-2-24 To the memory of Anthony Barker R.A.F. killed over France July 1944.
Per Ardua Ad Astra
2 C# 7-0-21 Presented by John Harrison in ever grateful memory of his beloved wife Beatrice Ethyll who died at Bray 5 May 1946. Gillett & Johnson, Croydon 1948 E.S.C. Lowman, Vicar
3 B 7-0-16 Feare God, Honour the King 1678
(Cast by Henri Knight III at Reading)

4

A

8-2-4

Henri Knight made this bell ano 1612
RG. HP. EL. TW.
(Cast by Henri Knight I at Reading)

5

G

9-1-14

Henri Knight made this bell ano 1613
(Cast by Henri Knight I at Reading)

6

F#

12-0-10

Perpetuis annis memor esto Mariae Johannis
Cujus sub cura fueris mala pelle futura.
T. Mears fecit. This bell was recast 1914.
Rev. Chas. Andrewes Raymond, Vicar.
Frederick Islay Pitman)
Frederick Thos. Ford) Churchwardens 1812
7 E 16-1-20 Thos. Ward: Wm. Lee : Churchwardens 1771
(This bell bears the mark of Thomas Swain, of Longford)
Tenor D 24-0-27 1656
(This bell was cast by Ellis and Henri Knight of Reading)

 

We are always pleased to show visitors our bells. A walkway above them, installed to permit access to the sound control doors behind the louvers, doubles as an excellent viewing gallery. If you would like to see them, the most suitable time is on a Thursday evening during our weekly practice.

colin   bob   katherine
 
Colin Fowles and Wenda Fowles ringing the 3rd and 4th   Bob Rance and Derek Fowles ringing the 3rd and 4th   Kathrine and Graham Firman ringing the treble and 2nd
 
ringers
Jennifer Firman, Sylvia Harrington, Bob Rance and Derek Fowles ring the front 4 bells
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