Bell Maintenance

MAINTENANCE OF BELL INSTALLATIONS

Guidance To Good Practice

Ely DA have produced a leaflet for the use of Incumbents, Churchwardens and steeplekeepers as a guide to the best practice and aims of the maintenance of the tower, frame, bells and fittings. It is not a code of practice but highlights major points when planning belfry maintenance and gives examples of work to be carried out.

View and download the leaflet here,

Central Council Advice

Further information can be obtained from the website of the  Central Council of Church Bell Ringers.

The Stewardship and Management workgroup of the Central Council regularly reviews all aspects of Tower Stewardship and can offer advice and recommendations on matters including insurance, tower management, safeguarding, risk assessments, church law, health & safety, fire risk, complaints, etc. Guidance notes are available on a number of topics, divided into Tower Infrastructure, Tower Operation and Major Projects.

Guidance notes from the Steward ship and Management workgroup are here. Note that Safeguarding documents from the Steward ship and Management workgroup are included under Tower Operation; Ely DA Safeguarding documents are here.

CCCBR books on bell maintenance and restoration are available here.

Changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme,

October 2013

The Government has announced changes to the scope and operation of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. This is the scheme which allows listed places of worship to reclaim VAT (with certain restrictions) paid for alterations and repairs.

From 1 October 2013, works to pipe organs, turret clocks, bells and bell ropes will be eligible for claims under the scheme. Professional services directly related to eligible building work such as architects, structural engineers and archaeologists fees will also become eligible. These changes apply to works supplied from 1 October 2013.

From this date, applications to make use of the scheme will be accepted from religious and charitable groups whose main purpose is to conserve, repair and maintain redundant listed places of worship which are not in private ownership.

These changes will be accompanied by administrative changes to simplify claiming through the scheme including:

• A new provision that in any 12 month period each place of worship may submit one claim using eligible invoices with a value between £500 and £1,000 (excluding the VAT paid). This is in addition to an unlimited number of claims where the value of eligible work carried out (excluding VAT) is £1,000 or greater 

• Scanned and photocopied invoices will now be accepted to support claims 

• The scheme will process payment runs each week to deliver a smoother flow of payments to applicants helping applicants receive their grants more quickly. 

Details of the changes can be found at the UK Government website here and application forms are available on the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme website  here.