St Giles Church Bells, Restoration Appeal - Fund Raising Progress
***********************************************************+++++++ +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 x £1000 ^ Our target *** = Funds raised +++ = Grants offered.
Funds raised from events and donations £11,829, Grants offered £1400.
Note that some of these grants are for a limited period and are only payable on completion of the work to a satisfactory standard. Our chosen Bellhanger requires 33% deposit (£3,484) when the bells are removed from the tower. We have now sent a 'letter of intent' to the Bell Hanger and have a date for the start of the work on 14th August 2012. This is expected to be complete within three months.
- Picnic and Concert at West End House - Sunday 10th July 2011
- Many thanks to Richard and Sue Foster for hosting this enjoyable event with Vaughan Jones and Adrian Smith from the Manor house String Quartet playing a variety of pieces to an audience of around 100 people. The event raised funds for Cancer Research UK and for the Bell Restoration fund which received £652. More ....
- 12th July 2011
- A further donation from NHBC to match funds raised for our "Open Bell Tower with Cream Teas" afternoon.
- Open Bell Tower with Cream Teas - Sunday 15th May 2011
- What a wonderful turnout of guests we had to our fundraising event. Many people came to enjoy the cream teas and some took a trip up to the belfry to see the bells and how they operate. More ....
- Manor House String Quartet Spring Concert - Friday 13th May 2011
- The Manor House String Quartet performed their highly entertaining A-Z concert in St.Giles church, Cheddington to raise funds for the 'Cherish our Church' and also provided the Bell Restoration fund with a further £115. The concert was greatly appreciated by an audience of around 70 people. More ....
- Royal Wedding - Friday 29th April 2011
- To celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, we rang the bells at St.Giles church, Cheddington More ....
- Pub Games Evening - Long Marston Cricket Club - Saturday 12th March 2011
- A brilliant evening of traditional pub games at the Long Marston Cricket club, thoroughly enjoyed by all More ....
- Christmas Tree Festival - Marsworth 4th to 5th December 2010
- On the weekend of the 4th / 5th December, the combined bell team of Cheddington, Marsworth and Mentmore took part in the locally popular Christmas Tree Festival in support of World Vision through Churches in Partnership More ....
- The Fox River Conspiracy Rock and Roll Band - Saturday 13th November 2010
- A brilliant evening of 50s and 60s Rock 'n' Roll music played by the Fox River Conspiracy on the 13th November 2010. More ....
- The Very Last Night of the Proms - Saturday 16th October 2010
- What a wonderful evening of entertainment we had with some excellent music and good audience participation. The concert was well attended both with audience and performers. More ....
- 27th August 2010
- A donation from NHBC to match funds raised for our "Open Bell Tower with Cream Teas" afternoon.
- 31st July 2010
- A substantial private donation was gratefully received.
- Barn Dance - Saturday 17 July 2010
- Another barn dance enjoyed by all led by the "Hayloft Ceilidh Band" in Cheddington Village Hall. More ....
- Open Bell Tower with Cream Teas - Sunday 23rd May 2010
- An open day including ringing demonstrations, belfry visits and 'come and try' sessions as well as cream teas. More ....
- A Night at the Movies - Friday 14th May
- A concert by the Manor House String Quartet in St. Giles Church with popular classics featured in films. This was a joint fund raising event for the 'Cherish Your Church' and the 'Bell Restoration Appeal' which raised £188 for our campaign. Our thanks to Vaughan, Louise, Adrian and Tony for a wonderful concert.
- Sunday 13th December 2009 - St. Giles Church bells have chimed 350 times.
- The bells were rung at St. Giles Church Cheddington along with other bells and sound instruments all over the world, in support of the aim to highlight to the Copenhagen Climate Conference that 350 parts per million some developing nations say is the safe upper concentration for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. See BBC web site for more details
- Barn Dance - Saturday 17 October 2009
- Dancing to "Hayloft Ceilidh Band" in Cheddington Village Hall. This was our second major fund raising event thoroughly enjoyed by all. Ticket sales, bar takings, raffle ticket sales and donations raised £940. More ....
- Manor House String Quartet Rehearsal - 20 July 2009
- A wonderful surprise from Manor House String Quartet who rehearsed Borodin Nocturne and Spohr G Major at St. Michael's church, Oxford and raised £79.49 from a retiring collection, which they were invited to donate to a charity of their choice. Many thanks to them all for their support.
- Tower Open Afternoon - Saturday 4th July 2009
- We took the opportunity to have an open afternoon on the day of the Cheddington Village Fete. Thanks to the support we received from the fete organisers, we had approximately 30-40 visitors who came to view ringing demonstrations, have a brief bell handling instruction session and to visit the belfry and view our ancient grafiti carved into the tower masonry. More ....
- Musical Evening - Saturday 6th June 2009
- Our first home grown fund raising event invited local musicians both amateur and professional to perform their chosen favourites in St. Giles Church, Cheddington to a capacity audience. A raffle, refreshment donations and retiring collection raised £962 in aid of the 'St Giles Church Bells, Restoration Appeal'. More ....
- 10 Mar 2009 - Reply from our pre-application to the Heritage Lottery Fund
- Although encouraging, the reply stressed that we needed to involve more people in this Heritage Project than just the immediate bell ringing team. This prompted our plan to hold a musical evening and other publicity / fund raising events.
- 7th Dec 2008 - Quotation from White's of Appleton
- The first quote received in December 2006 assumed assistance from local able bodied people. Unfortunately several of our ringers who otherwise look well, have back troubles. This new quote was for the entire job and totalled £10,559 + VAT, although it would appear that we should be eligible for a grant to cover the VAT. There will be additional work required to fit trapdoors for lowering the bells.
- 27 Feb 2008 - St Giles Church Bells, Restoration Appeal - Account setup
- Account administrator Tracey Ells
- 30 Sep 2007 - Grant offer from Oxford Diocesan Bell Fund
- 28th April 2007 - Grant offer from Chiltern Branch of ODG
- 19th April 2007 - Roy Woodruff inspection visit
- Roy, the local Chiltern Branch representative of the ODG Towers & Belfries committee visited to inspect the bells. In general he assessed that the bells were in reasonable condition, but recommended that if the bells are to be re-hung on new bearings, it would be more economical in the long term to have the clappers re-furbished at the same time. The frame should also be properly cleaned down and re-painted whilst the bells are out of the tower.
- 12th February 2007 - ODG Chairman of the Towers & Belfries committee - Bell Inspection offer
- Chairman John Davidge of the ODG Towers & Belfries committee kindly offered to send a committee member to inspect the bells free of charge.
- 9th December 2006 - First quote received