starting to pour

pouring almost finished on one bell

[6] Location of 2 new ring beams.

[7] [8] [9] The removal of the original bells.

[10] Rebuilding part of the tower wall where it collapsed during removal of a redundant boiler flue which had been chased into the wall.

[11] Shuttering for the top ring beam prior to its casting.

[12]- [17] This set of photos illustrate how the ring beams were constructed; each member of the construction team had a specific job to do.

[12] Mixing the concrete in the farmyard opposite the church.

[13] Carrying the concrete from the mixer to the base of the tower.

[14] Filling buckets of concrete ready to be pulled up the tower [15].

[16] Guiding the buckets up so they didn't foul the 2 floor openings (not concentric, obviously).

[17] Emptying the buckets into the shuttering and using a hydraulic vibrator to get rid of the air bubbles.

[18] [19] The site.

[20] The top ring beam curing, note the white polystyrene block which allows a pocket to be formed in the beam for the later grouting in of the new frame.

[21] The beam after the shuttering has been removed, note the pocket for the frame.

[22] - [26] Whilst the construction work was progressing in the tower Whitechapel Bell Foundry were tuning the new trebles, retuning the original bells and Whites of Appleton were building the new frame in their workshop. On completion of the frame’s trial assembly the Aston Clinton Ringers together with some of the subscribers visited White's workshop to see the completed installation prior to its despatch to the tower.

[27] The lower ring beam which had to be built completely into the wall.

[28] Unloading the new frame from the lorry and into the church; note the elevated carrier to enable the galvanised RSJs to be swung round over the pews.

[29] [30] The new frame, during erection, located in the pre-formed wall and beam pockets.

[31] Shuttering the pockets before grouting the frame into the ring beam.

[32] [33] The arrival of the bells at the church.

The old oak bell frame was sold to a local furniture maker for quality furnishings. Sections of the oak wall plates on which this frame rested, originally measuring some 12" x 6", were found in places to have decayed to half their original thickness. When the intermediate floor chamber was replaced the joists were found to have been buried over 2 feet into the 3 foot thick masonry walls. Most of the embedded joists were completely rotten and their remains were removed using a vacuum cleaner! In forming the 2 new ring beams approximately 200 cubic feet of masonry was removed and replaced with the same amount of concrete, pulled up in buckets.

The project has occupied approximately 4,000 people-hours of voluntary manual labour and the clerical work some further 500 hours. Without the voluntary work the final cost would have been in excess of £80,000. However, the total amount spent on the project is reckoned to be just over £65,000. Over half the cost has been raised through private donations and reclaimed tax. The majority of the remainder has come from grants by church related bodies ranging between £400 and £7,600.

A time capsule has been left between the floor and ceiling of the new floor containing photographs and papers explaining when, why and how the work was done. Our successors should discover this sometime around the year 2200.

text Alan Bentley