Come and visit the bell tower during the Holly Fair on Saturday 7 December 2024

See details in the poster below.
 

 

St Michael's 12 bells rung for a peal on Saturday 2 March 2024

Here is a link to a 15 minute video made by John Mortimer whilst The Society of Royal Cumberland Youths were ringing a peal of Bristol Surprise Maximus on our 12 bells on 2nd March.  Click here to listen.

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Bells Restoration Gift Opportunity

Donate a Headstock

 

Donate a headstock for £1,000 and we supply a brass plaque, approximately 175mm long (7 inches) which will be fixed to the headstock and inscribed with a suitable approved wording, e.g. “Headstock donated by The Smith Family In memoriam John Smith 1930-2022.”

A donated plaque on one of the blue cast iron headstocks which supports the bell on the bearings which swing the bell.  
For more information please email: bells@saintmichaelweb.org.uk or nickhughes@outlook.com
Alternatively please contact Claire Conquest or Gill Johnson

 

Successful Completion of St Michael's Bells Project

St Michael's bells are now back in the tower

The restoration of the church bells is now very close to completion.  The bells have now been successfully raised back into the tower.
13 bells installed in the bell chamber and ready to ring

 A visit from the mayor - Happy Dave                The treble and the tenor.

The work carried out, included the augmentation of the bells from 10 to 13 and rehanging in a new bellframe positioned lower in the tower to improve stability, with the bells reoriented and the tenor positioned in the centre. Sound control has been provided using electrically operated acoustic roller shutters installed over the inside of each of the four louvres.
  
A dedication service was held at St. Michael’s Church on Windhill, led by The Right Reverend Dr Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans on Sunday 4^th December.
 
Bishop Alan preparing to ring

Bells dedication cake made by Daphne Birchmore

Visitors to the church will be able to ascend the tower to view the bells once the installation of new ladders has been completed in January.

Update on the bells restoration project as at 27 October 2022

The work on the new bells has now been completed by Whites of Appleton. The bells were delivered to St Michael's on Thursday 27th October 2022 and have been placed in the south aisle.

The bells were blessed at the 10am service on Sunday 30th October.

Video of bells arriving in Windhill.

The bells will be hoisted up the tower on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th November and should be ready for ringing at the Sunday service on 20th November.

An updated summary of the planned schedule of work can be found here./Articles/632705/Schedule_of_Work.aspx

Bell Restoration Update 2 May 2022

The Parish Office, Tower Room and Ringing Chamber have all been cleared and you’ll have probably noticed that the back of the church is now screened off, for safety. Bellhangers, Whites of Appleton, arrive this week to begin lowering the ten bells through all the floors, the first time since 1928, before restoration and refurbishment begins. The old 4th bell that dates from 1713 is currently situated at the back of the church.


Church Bells Restoration Appeal

We are running an appeal to raise funds to refurbish the historic bells at St Michael's Church, Bishop's Stortford, to help safeguard a long tradition of Church bells ringing out to call worshippers to Church for future generations.  Check out our fund-raising video. 

 

Bells removed from St Michael's

The 10 bells have now been removed from the bell tower. 9 of the bells have been taken away by White's of Appleton 7 of these will be retuned and the two lightest bells, which could not be retuned, have been sold for use in another church. The 7 retuned bells together with 6 new bells will be rehung in the tower in August / September, giving us a new ring of 12 bells with an additional sharp second bell to allow the front 8 bells to be rung separately.

The 4th bell remains in St Michael's church. This ancient bell, which dates from 1713 could not be retuned, but will be retained in St Michael's tower because of its historical significance.

The Schedule of Work

We are very pleased to announce that we have now been given the go ahead to commence the work of restoring the bells. White's of Appleton, Bellhangers have been appointed to undertake the work, which will commence in May 2022. 

White's of Appleton were founded in 1824 and are the oldest continuously trading Bellhanging Company in the UK. A brief history can be found on this link: History | whitesbellhangers
 
A summary of the planned schedule of work can be found here./Articles/632705/Schedule_of_Work.aspx

 

The Appeal

The red brick tower and slender steeple of St Michael's Church are a familiar sight to the people of Bishop's Stortford.  There have been bells in the tower since the early 1400s, when we know there were five until a sixth was added in 1671.  The present ring of ten bells was installed in 1820 in the existing 1713 wooden frame after the tower and spire were rebuilt in 1819.  Since then, the only other work on the bells consisted of re-tuning in 1928.  Now, nearly 200 years since the last major work, the bells are in urgent need of refurbishment and rehanging in a new frame due to cracking in the tower, which has occurred because the two largest bells are hung against the weaker west wall and swing in a north/south direction, resulting in increasing stress to the building and making the bells difficult to ring.       
 


The Proposal

We need to raise £370,000 plus VAT.  The three smallest bells are beyond re-tuning, so need to be replaced with three new bells.  The remaining seven will be retuned then re-hung in a new cast iron frame positioned lower in the tower to improve stability and a new floor will be installed. The bells will be reoriented with the 17cwt tenor bell being moved to the centre of the frame. 
The ring of ten bells will be augmented to twelve. There will be six new bells, the front five bells plus the addition of a sharp second bell to give a light ring of eight.
Bells 1 and 2 from the old ring of ten - the ones we can't re-tune for St Michael's - have been sold to the Keltek Trust for re-use in other churches and the 3rd from the old ring will be tuned down a semitone so it can be repurposed as the 6th of the new ring of twelve.
The old 4th bell, which was cast in nearby Bells Hill by local bellfounder John Waylett in 1713, is too thin to be retuned and will be retained for posterity along with the old bell frame at a higher level in the tower. 
Acoustic Roller Shutters on the inside face of each of the four louvres will provide a measure of sound control in this town centre church, to be used for long periods of ringing, but not affecting ringing for services.  In addition, the existing timber and metal access ladders that rise from the ringing chamber to the roof will be replaced with more modern and safer ship’s ladder installations to provide much easier access.  A walkway with handrails will be installed on the old bell frame and act as a viewing platform.

How to donate

To give you some idea of what your donation could buy:

• Dedication to an individual, family or organisation, one of 3 new bells, each increasing in size - £10,000, £12,500 or £15,000.
• Re-tuning remaining 7 bells - £5,500
• Headstock - £1,000 inscribed to an individual, family or organisation, subject to approval
• Wheel - £1,200
• Rope - £250
• New metal frame - £17,000
• New bell chamber floor - £14,000
• Sound control acoustic shutters - £15,000

All donations will be recorded and retained in the Church archives.

We will, of course, be pleased to accept any donation that you wish to make online, by cheque or standing order.

Online  Please visit our JustGiving page.	Text Message  Donations via text message to be announced.
Cheque/Standing Order Please make payable to “St Michaels PCC Bells Appeal” and return to the Parish Office in an envelope marked ‘Bells Appeal’.	BACS Payment Donate via your online bank account to St Michaels PCC Bells Appeal 20-36-98, a/c 13838609 Reference:

 

Fascinating New Book!

New book, expertly written and published in 
September, 2021 by St. Michael's bell ringer, 
Alan Padgett.

Click here for more details. 

Contact

Appeal Co-ordinator: 
Email: bells@saintmichaelweb.org.uk
Website: https://saintmichaelweb.org.uk/Articles/542915/Church_Bells_Restoration.aspx
St Michael's Church, Windhill, Bishop's Stortford Herts, CM23 2ND
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF BISHOP'S STORTFORD (ST. MICHAEL)
Registered Charity No. 1130646
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Download the leaflet	Gift Aid & Standing Order Form	Check out the video