FONC

Norton sub Hamdon

South Somerset, England

Sponsored by:

Friends of Norton Church

Last updated 25th November 2009

FRIENDS OF NORTON CHURCH REPORT FOR 2009. This year it has not been necessary for the Friends of Norton Church to undertake any big projects, but to prepare for the Quinquennial inspection of the church of St. Mary the Virgin this autumn and Roger Webb is thanked very much for his detailed survey and report on the church windows. There has been the usual run of relatively minor, nevertheless important, issues to deal with. These include oiling the West Doors to preserve the superb decoration, installing a safety rope up the tower staircase, securing heating system pipes and installing a new heating time switch. The largest project was the modification and renovation of the weathervane and there is an illustrated report on the Norton website: www.nortonsubhamdon.org.uk Special thanks to Peter Callaghan, Dennis Hawkins and Andy Holm. As well as considerable efforts on the part of everyone involved, all this does cost money and particularly to come are some major items listed in the report of the Quinquennial inspection. The most regular fund raising is by the successful FNC Wine Club, due to the dedication of Roger Webb, John Ashton and Peter Callaghan. At the Flower Show, Lorna Noble ran her stall of artistic and other goods and a visiting Cazzjazz band played in the church with a BBQ run by Liz and Stuart Maunder to celebrate Tower Day. The last event of the year was the village carol singing led by Cilla Caswell with superb playing on her flute (even with cold and wet fingers) - with participation by a large ‘choir’, despite some heavy rain. The singers were rewarded by Cilla and Bill with mulled cider and by Lynn Orchard with mince pies. Half of the proceeds went to ‘Hope and Homes’, a charity for war orphans. Very many thanks indeed to all who work so hard in many ways to support our beautiful church. Malcolm Reid, FNC Chairman

"Peter Callaghan, who had a leading role in the previous weathervane refurbishment some years ago, took the initiative to do this work again. Of course, this is not a simple painting task and required the lowering of the complete assembly. The mast is in two parts, but they and the component joining them together were rusted solid, so the lowering had to be done in a single stage. Malcolm Reid assembled a team of FNC members and others to undertake this difficult task and the carrying down all the tower steps of all the component parts, some of which are very heavy. This team, with Peter and Malcolm, comprised Andy Holm, David Parkinson, Dennis Hawkins and Neil Chapillon. In parallel with Peter repainting the Weathervane and the NSWE letters, to a specification to withstand the weather (gold is especially difficult), Malcolm and Dennis designed and made a modification to the mast to make much easier the re-assembly and subsequent re-painting in years to come. This modification allows a swivelling action of the upper mast. The final phase was to carry the heavy components and necessary equipment up the tower staircase and then re-erecting the whole assembly. This was acheived by Andy Holm and two equally tall and strong friends, Phil and Tristan. They were assisted by Malcolm, Dennis and David Robins. On behalf of the PCC, congratulations and many thanks are expressed to all those who participated in this church fabric project. Rev. Peter Thomas."

Church Clock at St. Mary’s, Norton sub Hamdon

Our Clock is unusual. It strikes the hours and quarters – but it has no faces to keep us on time between the quarters.

There is a story behind this – which is probably not true, if ‘thought through’. It was said that quarry owners on Ham Hill would

not allow faces on the clock because, had they been able to see the time, the quarry workers would have ‘clock watched’ towards

the end of the day, instead of continuing to work until they heard the time to finish!

The clock is a beautiful piece of traditional engineering, housed in a case in the Church Bells Ringing Chamber, about two thirds of

the way up the Tower. What is particularly interesting is that the movement is the same, but on a smaller scale, as the Great Clock

of Westminster (known popularly as Big Ben – but that is the hour bell). This was specially designed by Lord Grimethorpe and works

with a gravity escapement to cause the least interference with the pendulum.

Until about 30 years ago the clock was wound by hand – three times a week someone had to climb all the stairs and wind it.

If you have been up the Tower you will know what a hard climb that is! John Bentley, the Church Bells Ringing Captain, was one

of them who says that the clock winding was hard work also.

John Lynas who looked after the clock for 15 years.

Then, about 30 years ago, an electric winding system was put in and upgraded approximately 15 years ago by a contractor

supervised by Mike Cudmore and John Lynas. This system was quite ingenious, using small motors and long narrow chains

to lift relatively light weights up a long height - from way down the Tower. Inevitably, the fragile chains wore out and the

whole system had to be replaced.

The Friends of Norton Church (FNC), led by Peter Thomas our Rector, organised a funding campaign to raise almost £5,000

to pay for a new, modern clock winding system. All this activity took place during 2006 and the new system was installed and

commissioned early in 2007. The motors and weights are much bigger and operate in the clock cabinet itself. For the new

winding system, it was found necessary to upgrade the electrical system in the Church and to the latest standards, including

very expensive specialist cable required for public buildings. This cost in excess of £3,000 which was paid for by the FNC from

its on-going fund-raising events.

Some of the new Clock Winding System project team

Church Bell Ring Chamber: Sound Attenuation

This project is to attenuate the sound of the Church bells in the Bell Ringing Chamber to reduce the sound

levels from 79.1dB(A) down to 70dB(A) for the bell ringers. This measurement - double the required level - and

specification were provided in a visit report by a specialist from the Bath & Wells Diocesan Association of

Change Ringers.

The consequences of this excessive sound are that it makes it very difficult for the ringers to hear the timing

of the bells accurately and there is the possibility that their hearing may become impaired. Quite regularly

expert bands visit Norton Church to ring either a Quarter Peal (about 1¼ hours) or a Full Peal (over 3 hours)

and they complain about this problem. So for existing and would-be ringers, this is a deterrent which must be

avoided.

Then those in the general public when listening to the bells chiming do observe inaccurate ringing if all the ringers

are not co-ordinated within a fraction of a second of each other

The method of Ringing Chamber sound reduction used for over 100 years, from the restoration of the Church

Tower after the fire in 1894 until the refurbishment of the bells for the Millennium, was the use of bags of

oil-soaked sawdust laid directly under the bells.

Then prior to the Millennium, the Friends of Norton Bells, led by Phil Davis, raised approximately £25,000 for

this refurbishment and for increasing the number of bells from six to eight. When the bells were recast and

re-installed in 1895, with amazing fore-thought, the new wooden frame to hang the bells had space for two

additional bells installation later when sufficient funds became available. However, there were not sufficient funds at that

time to install adequate sound attenuation measures.

So, the previous method of sound reduction was used again, with the exception that oil soaking of the sawdust

was avoided for fire hazard reasons. This limited its effectiveness and, in addition, there were now two extra

bells to create more unwanted sound. It has proved to be inadequate, even when supplemented by pieces of

carpet but this was the only course of action possible, until now, for financial reasons.

Lifting the timber using a Tufer A beam about to be positioned

The Friends of Norton Church action group has taken on the funding and project including applying for grants

management of this project involving three contractors for a total project cost in the region of £4,000.

Peter Thomas, our Rector, has taken a leading position having obtained permission from the Diocesan Advisory

Committee. This is known as a ‘faculty’, being the term for the Church’s internal planning permission procedure

Gordon Rendell, a leading ringer from Montacute, and a carpenter by profession, was appointed to conduct the

necessary work. Therefore, he has both the knowledge to specify what was needed and the skills to carry it out.

Attaching a wall plate The new ceiling nearing completion

A new ‘false’ ceiling, comprising 2 inch thick of Douglas Fir, was installed over an area approximately 15

feet square. The great weight of this requires the support of two 9 inch by 4 inch beams, in addition to two

wall plates. Lifting of all this very heavy timber from the vestry floor through a trap door in the Ringing Chamber

floor required special lifting equipment and great care to avoid any damage or accidents. In addition, ‘sound boxes’

for each of the bell ropes were made by Gordon and installed between the original and new ceilings.

Gordon also supervised additional work by Edward Venn for necessary changes to the lighting system and by

Kenneth Woodley to alter the mechanism which prevents the clock striking when the bells are being rung.

(Report to follow on the outcome when the bells are rung with the above and comment upon removal of

existing insulation material and possible replacement with Rockwool).

For the report click here to read, at the bottom of the bell ringers page