If you are a regular reader of my blog, you might remember that during my 10th birthday month, August 2023, I hosted a number of guest posts from a variety of people who were kind enough to write for me? Well, this month – oh, hang on, it’s the 1st of October today, so I mean last month – I enlisted the help of a young photojournalist to take some photos of an event taking place in Loughborough which I was unable to attend myself, due to a previous appointment.
On Sunday 10th September, Loughborough held its first-ever bell festival publicised by Charnwood Arts! And what a festival it was!! I’m sure many of you were there to witness the willow bell, made by local artist Nita Rao, who was also responsible for many of the sculptures on the Beacon Hill, and Outwoods trails, whilst it was in the grounds of the parish church (All Saints with Holy Trinity). From here, it made its way through town to Queen’s Park, where there were celebrations all round!
This willow bell was made to represent the Big Paul Bell, which was made by the local bellfoundry, Taylors, for St Paul’s Cathedral in London. While this bell may have been made of willow, the original bell was made of bell metal (a combination of copper and tin) and weighed in at in excess of an impressive 20 imperial tons according to the St Paul’s Cathedral website. It’s apparently the second largest bell to have been cast in the UK – or maybe the biggest in England, depending on what sources you read - and is still the biggest bell cast by our local foundry.
While the journey from the parish church to the park might have only been a short distance, taking only about 30 minutes, Loughborough to St Paul’s in London was a voyage of about 100 miles, and took 11 days! The mode of transport for the two journeys was practically the same though! In both cases, the bell was loaded onto a trailer, and the whole pulled by a steam traction engine!
At the Loughborough Bell Festival – an event that is likely to be repeated in some form a couple more times – the procession from the church to the park, was accompanied by groups like Morris dancers (I spotted Bare Bones and Way of the Wyrd, with loads of members of the public lining the route and even joining in with the procession. Once in the park, there was more entertainment put on, including a concert in the bandstand from the Hathern Band (the subject of many of my previous blogposts, like this one!), and a marquee in which people could have a go at things like handbell ringing!
Here's some
photos that give a flavour of the event:
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| Mr John Taylor (aka Lez!) with the Great Paul Bell! |
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| The steam engine |
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| The trailer |
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| The experts! |
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| Loading the bell |
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| Preparing for the blessing |
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| The Reverend Wendy Dalrymple giving the blessing |
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| The journey begins! |
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| The procession of people! |
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| The procession arriving in the Market Place |
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| The bandstand in Queen's Park |
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| Morris in the park! |
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| The end of the day |
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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for
typos which are all mine!
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Dyer, Lynne (2023). Loughborough Bell Festival 2023. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/10/loughborough-bell-festival-2023.html [Accessed 1 October 2023]
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