Visit to Whitechapel - Jan 16th 2010

Saturday 16th January saw 25 souls from Ash Church make their way up to London to visit the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Having all gathered together first for a welcome coffee we then made our way to the Foundry. It is located behind a discreet doorway on the Whitechapel Road (so discreet you had to know it was there or you would just walk straight past!) and upon entering it was positively Tardis like, the way the buildings spread out and up. Our guide, Alan Hughes, made the whole story of the foundry and the work that went on really come alive, leaving everyone suitably fascinated!
 
The Ash Church bells were laid out in a large work shop to the rear of the foundry, awaiting the attention of the skilled workforce, who between them would be carrying out repairs and retuning. The work on our bells is likely to take some weeks, but it is hoped that they will be back in time for Easter.

It was interesting to see the various parts of the foundry, each of which would be adding their particular craft to renovating our bells. Some parts of the building were very Dickensian, adding a  lot of charm to the functional layout. 

Our thanks to Alan Hughes and his wife for their time, and to John and Gabrielle Stook for making all the arrangements.