Minster’s chimes to ring again

The iconic chimes of Beverley Minster will ring out across the town again thank to the Friends of Beverley Minster, who have agreed to cover the cost of repairs.

The Minster’s PCC asked the Friends for help after informing them it did not have the funds to pay for the work itself.

The chimes, which were composed by the Minster’s organist John Camidge, and have been heard every day since 1902, had to be turned off in August to avoid further damage when one of the clock hammer check springs broke.

The broken pieces were removed by the Cumbria Clock Company and have been taken back to the workshop in Penrith, where a new spring will be hand forged to the exact dimensions of the original one.
It is hoped that the new spring might be ready to be fitted before Christmas.

“The spring sits in between two of our larger bells with only a few inches in which to work, other parts of the mechanism might have to be removed to gain access to fit the new spring,” said the Minster’s steeple keeper Mike Robson.

“When you have something like the clock that has been in place for more than 120 years then you expect that at some point something will stop working.

“If the Friends of the Minster, which is an independent charity, had not stepped in to cover the £612 cost of the work then the chimes would have been turned off indefinitely.

“Last year, the Friends paid for the regilding of the clock dial which saw the engineers abseil down the tower to carry out the work.”