These have now taken place (despite Covid restrictions!!) as well as a school visit to Taylors Bell Foundry in Loughborough
Our school and university visits took place in October and November 2021.
During our school visits we gave a presentation to the class, followed by a bells quiz and the fun, hands on bit, with both hand bells and the mini ring! The children were inquisitive and very keen to ‘have a go’. During the presentation the children learned all about our project, how bells are made, how they make the sound we hear up in the tower.
After a presentation to the whole class, children were split into smaller groups. The groups then rotated around the activities, so everyone got a go at everything on offer.
For the quiz, children were shown a model of how bells work and we learnt all about the different parts of the bells, what each bit did and how they work together to make the sound. We had a set of hand bells, children played and listened to the different notes, and then had to work as a team how to get themselves into ‘rounds’, from this they were able to have an introduction to ‘call changes’ where they move their place in the order to create a different ‘tune’.
The final rotation was for a go with the mini ring (a scaled down version of church bells), children were able to see how it all works in miniature and get feel for the real thing!
Feedback from one of the schools “Thank you so much for your (visit on) Wednesday-it was great and the children LOVED it!”
We visited the university in October when the new students were newly arrived on campus. We setup with the mini ring for a hands-on introduction to bell ringing and before long we had a steady stream of interested students, from all over the world, having a go. Some picked it up really easily and even came back with friends later on for another go-others took a little longer to understand how it all worked and to get the ’knack’ of ringing!!
University students having a go at the mini ring
Visit to Foundry-with Great Horwood School
This account of the trip by a teacher recalls the day (published in the local magazine)Hawthorn’s Class enough to be given the opportunity to visit the John Taylor and Co Bell Foundry in Loughborough this Autumn (2021). The trip was part of the Little Horwood Bells Project, who we worked with in the Autumn Term in school and we would like to give our sincere thanks to them for their support. At the foundry the children were given the opportunity to learn all about bells and how they are made. They discovered what metals go into the bells and how the moulds for these are manufactured. We also visited the casting hall and saw workers in action preparing a mould for the next stage in its journey. Next we crossed over to the workshop on the other side of the road where the children were able to hear some large bells being rung. They discovered lots of interesting facts about bells and how John Taylor foundry is the last in the country. The children were in awe of the work that Taylor and Co do and were fascinated to find out that they created ‘Great Paul’, the bell that is in situ in St Paul’s Cathedral in London!
To highlight the information the children learnt on the trip they have written their own recount of the day to retell all the fantastic things we saw and experienced at the Bell Foundry.
Photos of the visit and write ups below from the children
