Bell ringers from Grantham were able to witness the new bell soon to be at St Wulfram’s church being created at John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough.
The bell is due to be delivered to the church on Friday, March 1 and will be dedicated at the Evensong service on Sunday, March 3.
The new bell will cost £15,343, however Grantham Rotary Club is contributing £7,500 with the rest being funded by Grantham bell ringers themselves with help from the Lincoln Doicesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers and the charity fund of South Kesteven District Council chairman Coun Mike Cook.
Grantham Rotarty Club is using money from its Silver Jubilee Fund to contribute to the cost.
The names of the Grantham bell ringers have been cast into the surface of the bell along with the Royal Coat of Arms and the Rotary logo.
This will the 13th bell at St Wulfram’s church and complete a diatonic peal of 12 bells. The F sharp bell will enable the bells to ring a complete peal of Maximus (10 bells).
Currently they can only do peals of Royal (10 bells) and Major (8 bells).
A group of 13 bells is much prized and only the great cathedrals and a very few parish churches have them.
The bell will weigh between 5 and 6 cwt and be made of bell metal which is about 75 per cent copper and 25 per cent tin.
Photograph taken by Timothy Wylie.