The Bishop of Whitby, the Rt Revd Paul Ferguson, will dedicate the new bells at All Saints’ Thirkleby, at a special service on Tuesday 7th July at 7pm. A Songs of Praise service will be held to mark the completion of the church’s Bell and Tower Project, which was made possible by generous funding.
Jill Gillanders from All Saints’ Thirkleby said, “We’re delighted that Bishop Paul will be coming to dedicate our news bells, and give thanks for the completion of our project. We’ve repaired and restored the tower windows, which had been in a poor state of repair, allowing wind and rain to erode the masonry and water to enter the tower. We were able commission two new bells from Whitechapel Bell Foundry, London, and the Keltek Trust kindly gave us a salvaged bell, to double or number of bells from three to six.
“We are delighted with the results and extremely grateful to the very many people and groups who have supported and encouraged us throughout this project, including the Heritage Lottery Find, the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers, the Keltek Trust, the Payne-Gallwey Trust, and the individuals who gave their time and money. We’d particularly like to thank the four volunteers from the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers who gave a huge amount of skill, time, support and expertise – we calculated that between them they’d given the equivalent of at least £20,000 hours work!”
The Bishop of Whitby, the Rt Revd Paul Ferguson, said, “All Saints’ Thirkleby is a very active rural church, and they always seem to have something going on, from Rural Arts events to jazz nights. The new bells and repairs to the tower will allow them to continue serving their community for generations to come, and encourage more children and young people to carry on the wonderful British tradition of change ringing.”