Barlborough Feb 2024

Community
ST GILES CHURCH BELL’S PROJECT
The Church was awarded a National Heritage Loer Grant at the end
of the summer that will enable the bells to be repaired and rng once more.
To achieve this goal, however,
there’s always another ‘list’ of
things that sit alongside such a
venture. Over the next 18
months we plan to do other
activities that will introduce the
church, its grounds and
heritage to a wider audience.
This project main aim is to
restore the peel of bells
contained within the bell tower
of a Grade 2* listed building.
This means the church is in the
top 3% of the nation’s top
building of historical interest.
The condition have been
assessed by conservators and
an assessment of the bells,
structures etc has been fully
documented.
The aims of the project
- restore the bells (not listed
individually)
- instigate new a new team of
bell ringers
- research the bells history
- research the Treble Bob peel
- support activities that reflect
the heritage of St Giles in the
community for past 1,000 years
- support community learning
about our grade 2* heritage
building
- hold activities to develop
learning and research of the
church itself
- learn how bells are cast and
strung with manufacturers and
learn about a rare heritage skill
that just about exists.
- Promote heritage skills where
possible
- design an exhibition that can
tell the story of the Treble Bob
and book about St Giles
Within the project we will be
seeking to support, train and
restart the Band and a Tower
Captain role. If sufficient
interest is shown amongst
existing bell ringers and
potential trainees then the bells
at St Giles may be rung once
again on a regular basis.
But what is the Treble Bob – for
the general layman like myself
I’d like to know more about how
the story of the Treble Bob
came about, its meaning and
connection with the church. It’s
certainly a cultural identity that’s
been around for a while. A
plaque in the tower 1801
records a Treble Bob event.
Within planned activities with St
Giles school will be a resident
artist helping to interpret the
church and grounds for the
children and Forest School
practitioners to help them.
For the wider community wildlife
activities to show the
importance of such places as a
green oasis – natural history is
just as important to get over to
people since often these places
have changed little in hundreds
of years and support rarer flora
and fauna. From this we hope
to create a wildlife trail
concentrating on the grounds
and building itself.
We plan to create a few
podcasts for social media so
other communities can learn
about the site plus create a 21 st
century photographic record of
everything in the church,
outside and the grounds.
Hopefully a local photographic
group and students from the
local secondary school in
Eckington will be involved;
supporting them on their GCSE
and A level projects.
At the end of the project we aim
to have a small exhibition about
the restoration with supporting
printed materials such
children’s activity sheets.
We shall keep updating local
social media, church website
etc so everyone can see
progress.
Our project email is
churchbellsproject@gmail.com
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