Wheels and Stays

The ringers control the bells by pulling the bellropes which are wrapped around the wheels you can see here. The wheels are made of wood and all we need to do to them is to check that the joints between the spokes and the rim are all sound.

The stays are in need of more attention. These are the wooden bars which hold the bells at the top of their stroke. If a stay were to break then the bell would be able to keep rotating and would reel in the bell rope with the risk of serious injury to the ringer.

The stays of two bells are visible just to the right of centre in the photograph. The nearer stay belongs to the tenor bell and has already been repaired with an iron strap. The ends of both stays look to be badly worn but this is just dirt.

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