Structural Engineer has visited this morning

The structural engineer, Adrian Dempster,  has been to St Peter's this morning to assess the tower for its ability to hold the two extra bells. He carried out a visual survey of the exterior of the tower, taking photographs. Then he carried out a visual inspection of the interior of the tower especially looking for evidence of previous moment of the structure.


 If you were in the village you would have heard the bells being rung for a few minutes. While they were being rung the engineer used an instrument to measure the amount of movement of the tower at the level at which the bells are situated. The engineer verbally stated that there was not significant movement but we await official confirmation of that in his written report, which he will send to us in the new year. This report will then be submitted with the faculty application in order to get permission to continue with the scheme.

Donation Received from Ringing Group

I was presented yesterday with a cheque for £100 from a group of ringers, who are mainly retired and meet once a month to ring in different churches in the area and socialise. Each time they meet everyone gives a donation which enables them to give a donation to the churches they ring at. Any surplus builds up until they can give to a suitable bell appeal, such as our appeal for Drayton bells.


We look forward in the near  future to welcoming the group to ring on the completed ring of six bells at Drayton.

Grant Application made to Bell Ringing Ruling Body

The Central Council of Bell Ringers is the ruling body of bell ringing. Every so often people leave it bequests in their wills. This is administered by one of the Council's committees, who ask for applications from churches undertaking work on their bells. An application has been submitted from our bell project. Previous successful applicants have received sums of between £500 and £1,000. We don't expect to hear if we have been successful in our application until sometime early in 2015.

Donation Received from Whittington Bellringers

The ringers at St Giles Church, Whittington have kindly donated £125 to the bell appeal. A number of years ago Whittington were raising money to add two new bells to their ring and Christ Church Blakenall Heath sent them £125 to mark the 125th anniversary of the forming of the bell ringing society that covers our area. The Whittington ringers have now decided to pass this sum on to us.


Hopefully in the future, way after our appeal is completed and our new bells ringing, we can do the same kind act to another church.

Date Fixed for Structural Inspection

Adrian Dempster, a structural engineer, will inspect the tower at St Peter's Drayton Bassett on the morning of Thursday,18th December. This inspection has been required by the Diocesan Advisory Committee to ascertain if the tower is strong enough to stand the stress of two more bells.  If the report is positive the faculty application will be made to obtain permission to carry out the project.

Appeal Launch in New Year

It has been decided that the official launch of the bell appeal will now be in the New Year.  The appeal leaflet is now ready for printing in the next few weeks.


Some people have already come forward to help with the distribution of the leaflet to all houses and businesses in the parish. Anyone else who would be willing to help is invited to contact me.

Quiz Night Huge Success

The quiz night held last night at the Village Club, Friday 21st November, was a huge success. Despite having less than 40 names a week before the event, over 70 people were present on the night in 10 teams. 17 ringers and friends came from Tamworth to support the event. Many prizes were donated by individuals and Drayton businesses for a raffle that was held on the night.


Thanks are to Terry Bevan for organising the event and for being quiz master. Also a big thank you to Linda Hayes and her team of ladies who prepared, free of charge, the tremendous refreshments. The event raised nearly £700 for the bell appeal and proved to be an event that brought together the village community.

Manor School Involvement in the Project

Today I had a meeting at the Manor School in Drayton with the Year 5/6 teacher, Nicky Jowett. We discussed how the school could be involved in the bell project.




We have decided that next academic year, beginning in September 2015 Y5/6 will undertake a project comparing Drayton now with a century ago. This will link in with the hope that one of the new bells at Drayton will commemorate those 6 men who gave their lives in WW1. They will also record the progress of the bell project in various formats.


We hope to meet in the Summer term to finalise matters.

News Both Good and Bad!

The Diocesan Advisory Committee, from which we have to seek permission for the work in the tower, have accepted the positive report from their bell advisor but have requested that the church asks a structural engineer to inspect the tower to check whether it will be capable of withstanding the forces of the extra bells.


The inspection  will cost  approximately £1,000 extra than what we expected to spend.


More fundraising needed!

Fantastic Gift to the Bell Fund

What a fantastic surprise! A few hours ago Bev Davies messaged me to say she had over £300 to hand over to me for the bell fund.


 Bev has had a significant birthday recently and instead of presents she asked for donations to the bell fund. She wants to give the money in memory of her great uncle, Sam Tilling, who was one of the men from the village who was killed in WW1.


A big thank you to Bev for this gift.

Bank Account Opened for Appeal At Last

Thanks to the endeavours of the Church Treasurer, David Davies we now have a dedicated account for the bell fund and can start our fund raising in earnest.  All we need now is money to put in it. Any offers?

Quiz in Aid of Bell Fund this Friday

Don't forget that the Quiz in aid of the bell fund is being held this Friday night at the Village Club, 7.30pm start. Information from Terry Bevan , see previous blogs for contact details

Re Sam Tilling - one of the six from Drayton who died in WW1

I have received an email from a descendant of Sam Tilling. He was one of the six who were from the village who died fighting in WW1. Bev Davies still lives in the village and is a great niece of Sam. She has supplied me with a copy of a framed photograph of Sam in uniform that used to hang in her grandmother's house in his memory.

Quiz Evening Friday November 21st 7.30pm

A quiz evening will be held at the Drayton Club on the above date in aid of the bell appeal. It will start at 7.30pm. Teams of up to 6 people. The cost will be £8 per person, this includes food. Names to Terry Bevan 07779 252520 by at least the Wednesday before. 

More Information sought on Drayton's WW1 Dead

It is hoped that one of the new bells at St Peter's will be dedicated to the six men from the village who gave their lives in WW1. More information is sought about these people. Are there any descendants of these men still left in the village? Have they got any further information about these men? It is hoped that an exhibition of what can be found out will be held in the village and perhaps a leaflet produced.

Quiz Evening Friday 21st November

Terry Bevan has offered to arrange a Quiz Evening at the Club in Drayton Bassett in aid of the bell appeal. This will take place on Friday evening 21srt November. The cost will be £10 per person. There will be a supper included in the price. Up to 6 people in each team. More information later.

Preparation made for Faculty Application

Before any alterations or additions are made to church buildings you must obtain permission from the church diocesan authorities. This is called applying for a faculty. This involves a great deal of form filling and the  provision of photographs and drawings which show what you wish to do.


To help with the application for the bell work at Drayton, the provision of the new ringing room floor and the new traps to enable the new bells to come up the tower Kevin Jackson, a professional draughtsman has kindly gave time last Saturday to inspect the tower at Drayton. He will free of charge prepare drawings with photographs to support our application for permission to carry out the work.


It's really fantastic that so many people are willing to give their time in aid of this project. A big thank you.

DAC Bell Advisor has visited

This morning, Geoff Burton, the diocesan bell advisor visited St Peter's Church to view the tower and hear about the proposed work on the bells. He spent less than an hour on site and went away saying that he would write a report for the DAC fully supporting the proposals to augment the bells to six, the provision of a new ringing room floor and sound control measures for the louvres.

Proposed quiz in aid of bell project

A Drayton resident, Terry Bevan, has offered to organise a quiz evening before Christmas at the local club in aid of the bell project. Terry has organised many quizzes in the past in aid of good causes. I will post a definite date when it is arranged.

Appeal about to be officially launched

Setting up the new bank account for the bell appeal is taking some time, but we are nearly there. After that it will be the launch of the appeal  and distributing the appeal leaflets that have already been designed.

The Diocesan Bell Advisor is to visit

On Tuesday next, 7th October, the Diocesan Bell Advisor, Geoff Burton will come to Drayton Bassett church to hear what is planned for the bell project. He will then write a report which will be considered when we apply for a Faculty, that is permission to carry on with the project.

More offers of Help

Last week local villagers Adrian Taylor and Rob Nicholls visited the tower. They asked what was the works that were planned. Adrian is a joiner by trade. They offered to provide free labour to re instate the original  ringing room floor and to create new traps to enable the new bells to be hoisted up the tower. Brilliant news and thanks for the fantastic offer of help

More Offers of Help

Last week we had more offers of help from people in the village. A local joiner, Adrian Taylor and his friend, Rob Nicholls came to look at the tower and offered to provide their labour free to provide a new ringing room floor and open up some traps in the present floors to get the new bells through.