Ding dong merrily on high

A night or two before coming to the island in 2005 we watched a home video made by our predecessor. In it was featured a man ringing the church bell who later become known to us as Teddy, one of the deacons, but who always stuck in our minds as the bell-ringer. Well, it was over two and a half years ago that Teddy was ringing the bell one Sunday night when the rope providentially came away in his hands, sparking an investigation into the general state of the bell which revealed that its cast iron supports were so corroded after 100 years of holding the heavy bell in place that it was a wonder the whole structure hadn’t fallen right through the roof. Teddy took it upon himself to remake the supports, and after many months of labour and discussions about different options, the old bell was heard ringing up and down the valley this afternoon for the first time. It was a grand and glorious moment of triumph. While Nick was up in the bell tower helping with the reinstallation, the boys and I were in the manse – they paged through National Geographics to entertain themselves while I found more bits to clean. All in all, a highly successful afternoon. We also had a brief meander through town in search of a new pair of sunglasses for me to replace my misplaced ones, but when we enquired at a certain shop whether they sold said items, the lady said she had found mine and had passed them along to someone to give to me. Careless of me to leave them in the changeroom, but a reminder of one of the things we will miss about the island!





(These last two - vegetable delivery to Thorpes. Just look at all that local produce!)