The Association Bell Restoration Fund (BRF) was set up in 2013. It is administered by a Committee comprising of Stephen Stanford – Chair, Association Secretary Marc Kasfiner – and three Resident Members of the Association elected at the Association AGM, currently Alex Nash, Ian Steward and Simon Stranks.
BRF income is derived from:
Grants are available for work to provide, restore, maintain and improve bells, bell installations and their supporting structures. Types of work could include, for example,:
The BRF rules were changed at the 2025 AGM to reflect the accounting year change and allow other general donations to be made via Member Mojo agreed at that meeting.
BRF Rules – Version May 2025
BRF Application Form Version 1 – May 2013
BRF FAQs November 2016 (revised)
If you would like to make a donation to the Fund, or have any fundraising ideas, please contact the Association Secretary, secretary@bacbr.org.uk, who will be delighted to hear from you.
An application for a BRF grant was received from the PCC of St Thomas of Canterbury, Clapham for some remedial work recommended by Taylors of Loughborough following their inspection in December 2024. The works comprise a full service and bolt tightening on all fixtures and fittings as well as clapper and wheel restoration, installation of a ‘Galebreaker’ membrane over the louvres to minimise water ingress, strengthen the bell frame, lift and clean all bearings and replace the stays. The total cost quote was just over £18k (which includes VAT and a reduction for local labour to help). The BRF Committee made a recommendation of a £2000 grant which was subsequently approved by the Management Committee. Work has begun on the project.
Andrew Mills of Taylors removing the wheels at Clapham Pat Albon doing some painting; note the refurbished wheels and new stays at Clapham.
The Fund received a very generous donation of £10,000 from the estate of Derek Hammond, a past President of the Association. The Committee received two applications in the year, one from St Mary Magdalene Roxton for a refurbishment project but this had to be put on hold because of falling tower masonry which had to be investigated. The grant application will be amended once the scheme has been finalised and costs known. The other was from St Mary, Henlow for general maintenance of the pulleys, wheels and bearings of the back six bells. The Committee recommended a grant of £1000 towards this work.
No progress with the St Pauls Bedford grant of £8000. The Committee met to consider an application from St Edmund or St James, Blunham, for a two -phase refurbishment project. The first phase had been fully funded so it was agreed to defer the application until more information was received about the second phase.
An application for a BRF grant was received from St Pauls Bedford for a project to rehang and re-site the bells with associated works. The BRF Committee have agreed that the project meets the Fund’s criteria for a grant. Final confirmation of the grant is subject to a faculty being obtained and firm quotations submitted, along the lines of the approximations given and submitted to the BRF committee. You can read more about the project here
The work at St Lawrence Steppingley and All Saints Kempston are both now complete and the BRF grants paid.
The General Committee at their meeting on 23 November 2019 approved the grant of £3000 to St Lawrence Steppingley and we’ve been told that work will be completed in early 2020. The ‘retrospective’ application for work identified and carried out in a routine inspection at All Saints Campton wasn’t granted.
The work at All Saints Kempston had been delayed by several months and an extension to the 2 year grant uptake deadline was given by the BRF Committee. Work is now been completed and in time for Christmas ringing. Here are some pictures taken during the rehanging work:
On 16 July the BRF Committee recommended a grant of £3000 to St Lawrence Steppingley towards a project to refurbish the current 4 bells and augment to 6 bells, to fit sound proofing and provide electricity to the stairs, ringing chamber and belfry. The total estimated cost of the work is £41251. A legacy of £23,000 has been left solely for this project and the Keltek Trust have made a grant of £7696 and two of their bells. Savings will be made by providing local labour and transport.The work will be carried out by TLB Services.
The grant recommendation will be considered by the General Committee at their next meeting on 23 November, 2019
On 9 April the BRF Committee recommended a grant of £112.50 to All Saints Campton towards recent maintenance costs totaling £450.00 and carried out by Whites of Appleton The work included lubricating all the clapper bushes which were found to be very dry, realigning the tenor bearing which had moved in its housing and checking over the other fittings.
The grant recommendation will be considered by the General Committee at their next meeting on 23 November 2019
On Saturday 6 October our patron, the Right Rev Dr Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans, officiated at a service to rededicate the retuned and rehung bells of St John the Baptist Eversholt. The project had taken 4 years to complete and the result has been an amazing and successful transformation. The church was packed for the service which included the local school children singing ‘oranges and lemons’ and the church’s ‘Project Manager’ Carolyn Howell explaining how it had all come about. The bells were rung after the service and Bishop Alan came up the tower and had a ring with Tower Captain and Honorary Life Member Bob Churchill!
The work at St John the Baptist Eversholt has been completed.
The All Saints Kempston project has been extended to include re-tuning of the other bells. Richard Hillson writes –
“In addition to the works notified to you in our grant application, the project has now been extended to include the tuning of the existing bells 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9. Following further consultations with the bell tuner and DAC, it became apparent that with more modern analysis and tuning techniques that were not available at the time of the 1978 restoration, even greater improvements could be made to the musical qualities of the ring by not only tuning the new bells, but also making relatively minor adjustments to the tuning of the other eight bells. The cost of including this work as part of the current project is considerably less than would otherwise be the case, if done as a separate project. Agreement was sought and the faculty has been amended accordingly in line with the bell tuner’s recommendations, and the additional tuning is now within the scope of the project. The cost of this additional tuning is £11,300 (inc VAT).”
This doesn’t have any impact on the agreed BRF grant amount of £3500.
A rule change to slim down the BRF Committee was passed at the 2018 AGM. This was in response to concerns about independence between the Association’s Trustees (the General Committee) and the BRF Committee. The rule change means that the Present. Vice President and Association Treasurer are no longer BRF Committee members and a new role of BRF Committee Chairman has been created. The Rev Guy Scott was elected to this position.
At their meeting on October 14 2017, the General Committee approved the BRF grant recommendations for All Saints Campton and All Saints Kempston. The applicants of both churches have been informed.
On 17 July the BRF Committee recommended two new BRF grants for approval by the General Committee at their next Meeting in October 2017.
On 21 May 2016 the General Committee approved a grant of £5000 towards the St John the Baptist Eversholt Bells Restoration Project. This is the first grant to be awarded from the Fund.
The project involves the complete removal of bells and frame with a complete rehang in a new steel frame with new fittings and tuning the bells. Approximate total cost of the project is just under £66000.