Now, not many people know this, but I am currently learning how to ring church bells. This gives me the opportunity to legitimately become a menace to society by waking everyone up on a Sunday morning, or disturbing the peace of the town when there is a practice session on a Monday evening.
As part of the training, I have been getting to know about the various parts of the church bell system; how the ropes are connected, finding the balance and so on. Now, it turns out that bells have something called stays, and these are like long wooden arms attached to the bell which stops it from turning through a complete 360 degrees and swinging right over at the top, taking the hapless bell ringer with it; an extraordinary journey. These stays are made of kiln-dried ash, a wood that is noted for its strength and for a degree of flexibility. However, given an enthusiastic learner, even these stays have their limits and it is not unusual for them to break. I know, I've done it! A broken stay cannot be repaired and must be replaced, so what to do with the old one?
One of the options is of course firewood. Ash burns well, after all. On the other hand, why burn it when it can be reinvented as something else? How about a pen? In the case of a stay, there is usually enough solid wood left to make at least a dozen pens, so that is what has been helping to keep me occupied over the last couple of days. As recompense for breaking a stay, I have offered to turn a stay into lots of pens, which I am giving back to the church tower to be sold as a way of supporting the bell fund. I've made five so far and I've cut blanks for another eight, which is a good number. There is a service of re-dedication of the bells on December 12th (2023) to mark the 200th anniversary of their installation. The pens will be offered for sale after the service. The Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Wisbech, if you're interested. The bells will be professionally rung and will sound amazing!
But I hope people will like the pens as much as I have enjoyed making them. It's nice to be able to give something back.
My bell ringing hasn't improved, though.
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