In the 1920s and 1930s the Taylor bellfoundry was constantly busy. The sheer number of bells produced was phenomenal. But more than that, this was a period when many of our finest bells were cast. There were major new rings for great cathedrals – York Minster, Worcester and Winchester for example – and large carillons for the American market with bass bells weighing several tons. And that’s on top of the many peals cast and restored for the home market – the bells that are heard regularly all up and down the country.
Taylors was so well known that they hardly needed to advertise. Understandably, however, they were keen to publicise their work – and Taylor fans were eager to hear about the latest installations. Back then one couldn’t just run a blog are one does today. So, instead they came up with the idea of an annual calendar featuring some of the firm’s latest work. In the archives, we have a complete set of the Taylor calendars produced between 1927 and 1939. Photographs were selected for the 1940 calendar but the advent of World War II meant that it never appeared.
Nicely produced using high quality photographs the calendars followed a uniform design – in the heading a picture of a notable bell alongside the company name and address in large letters, then a photograph of a church with details of the work that had been done, and lastly the calendar. The photographs are invariably of churches rather than bells. The illustrations were chosen to represent work done recently, usually in the previous year.
As to the places featured, it must have been hard to choose. Nevertheless, the combined set illustrates no less than 468 different Taylor jobs, each with a fine photograph and potted history. It’s a splendid showcase for the firm’s enduring work – and what a blog it could have been had the means be available back then!
For publicity it was clearly a winning formula. Each calendar came with a tear-off reply card so that those who received them could register their interest in receiving the new calendars the following year.