Business News


Bell rings out at St Martin’s thanks to the Chamber


From left: Peter Burchill, Chamber staff member, George Caplin, at the time one of the longest-serving bell ringers at St Martin’s, Clare Turnbull, former Chamber press officer, Roderick Pipe, Clive Hampson, of Hampson Haulage, which delivered the bell to Chamber house before it made its journey to the church, and John Warburton, former chief executive of the Chamber


By Jessica Brookes


own – a church bell. During a reorganisation of the Chamber’s archives, David Bradford, premises manager at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, found images of former presidents Sir Adrian Cadbury, John Douglas and chief executive John Warburton with a bell, inscribed ‘The BCI Bell’. David explained: “The Chamber


A


has a wonderfully large range of minutes of meetings, images and documented visits stretching back to its inception in 1813. “However, nowhere in the archive was there any mention of this


14 CHAMBERLINK November 2019


rchives have revealed a highly unusual item for a Chamber of Commerce to


mysterious bell, or any sign of the bell itself - just these images.” To try and ascertain what happened to the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCI) Bell, David contacted the Birmingham School of Bell Ringing for answers. There, he was put in touch with


Richard Jones, tower keeper at St Martin’s church in the Bull Ring and a retired teacher who has been a ringer since 1978. David and Henrietta Brealey,


director of policy and strategic relationships at GBCC – and a keen historian – went to meet Richard and the BCI Bell at the church in the Bull Ring. The BCI Bell, Richard explained,


has been housed in St Martin’s since 1991.


Roderick Pipe (right) and John Douglas, vice-president of Birmingham Chamber during 1991, holding a commemorative lamp to celebrate the bells project


‘It was an absolute joy to see the Chamber bell in person, up in the bell tower of the iconic St Martin’s’


It was one of 16 sponsored by


industry bodies and businesses as part of a much-needed replacement and restoration of the bell’s frames. The previous bells dated back to


1928 and were donated to Escrick parish church near York. As part of the appeal, Roderick


Pipe – the main organiser of the appeal and the gentleman with the


red tie – contacted businesses to sponsor the peal of 16 bells, which then cost £200,000. Deep within the bell tower’s


archives was a variety of letters, documents and newspaper clippings outlining the various conversations Roderick had with bell sponsors, including Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Post and Mail.


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