December 27, 2017
Mancroft Appeal 300
City’s iconic bells to fall silent in January!
The bells of St Peter Mancroft will sound out across the city as usual on New Year’s Eve to mark the passing of the year and the arrival of 2018. However, from 14th January the bells will then fall silent for a period of up to 6 months as work starts on the construction of the ‘Mancroft Ringing Discovery Centre’. This marks the culmination of the Mancroft Appeal 300 Project, begun in 2015 and with the aims of –
Enabling the public to find out about the rich history of bell-ringing in Norwich, where change ringing was first pioneered over 300 years ago
Creating a state of the art training centre for the Eastern counties to train new and existing ringers
Taking ringing out to schools and other organisations and hosting a range of events at the Centre for visiting groups.
Since the project was launched in February 2015 the team of ringers has raised over £400,000, including £260,200 grant funding from The Heritage Lottery Fund. Significant grants were also received from the Town Close Estate Charity, Paul Bassham Charitable Trust, Geoffrey Watling Charity, Anne French Trust, Sir Timothy Colman Charitable Trust and the John Jarrold Trust.
The church of St Peter Mancroft plays a pivotal role in the history and craft of bell-ringing and is world-famous for being the tower in which the first ever true peal was rung, in May 1715. It was the 300th Anniversary of this ground-breaking achievement which prompted the launch of Mancroft Appeal 300 and the series of events and fund-raisers which have led to the momentous developments taking place in 2018.
Project Committee Chair Simon Rudd said “the works starting in just a few days represent the next and most exciting phase yet in the life of our project. The ringers here at St Peter Mancroft, their friends, families and of course the wider community of ringers from across the world, and of course the Mancroft church ‘family’ have worked tirelessly to bring our vision to life. This, combined with the support and encouragement of the Heritage Lottery Fund who have supported this project with a £260,000 grant, mean that during 2018 a real innovation in the way ringing can be shown to the public and new ringers trained will be a reality. Our aim is for the MRDC to be a heritage and training facility for the Eastern counties. Do come and see us when we open!”
Do please contact us for more information or for filming, recording or photographic opportunities. Our last practice session before work starts will be on Monday evening, 8th January and our last Sunday ringing will be on 14th. Other times are possible but cannot be guaranteed.
If you would like more information about this , please contact Simon Rudd – Committee Chair at 07957 406172 or email .
The St Peter Mancroft Guild of Ringers’ website – www.mancroftbells.co.uk
The Mancroft Appeal 300 website – www.mancroftappeal300.co.uk