Ringing Forums

No idea really but if we are talking Worcestershire then David Beacham is a possibility.

Thanks AJ - yes, David may well have known but it sounds as if you may be unaware that he sadly is no longer with us. I may ask his wife whether she recognises the garage / workshop, but will see other responses I receive.

I was thinking that David might have restored the bells...

I now have additional photos. There are 15 bells in total, some Mears some Shaws. The bells all fit into the large, purpose made wooden box, which looks “relatively” new . The photo included previously was in the the date they were refurbished on the back (January 1984). Logically, the box may have been made at that time.
We are wondering if it may have been David who did the refurbishing and / or made the box? Is the handwriting his? Could the photo possibly be the interior of his workshop or garage with the bells before refurbishing? Do you recognise the wooden box – would that be a style that he perhaps used? Did he even keep a record of restorations that he completed?

Can we go back to the "if" in my first post. Are we talking Worcestershire? Any geographical clues from the photos; source or content?

AJ - I have discovered a lot more since the first note above. I don't intend to disclose too much openly. However, yes, the geography is probably Worcestershire but the handwriting and workshop were not David Beacham's.

I don't know when he stopped working on handbells, or even when he died, but what about Frank Barnett, of Leigh Sinton, if you think that there is a Worcestershire connection? He was quite a prolific restorer of handbells, but, if my memory of 45 - 50 years ago serves me right, I think that he used light coloured leathers and the bells that he restored were always polished to 'as new' condition. Those in the photograph certainly would not be in Frank's finished state, more like his 'coming in' one.

Thanks Nick - yes, we are following up about Frank Barnett. As you say, the bells in the photo look like the condition pre-restoration. Frank's leather work shown in Bill Butler's Handbell book includes his name. This does not appear on the bells now in the box.

Does anyone recognise these leather stamps please? Ideally who uses / used them.
Thanks

As a quick update, we are now almost certain that these handbells were restored by Frank Barnett in Malvern. Here they are
in the box: