Lee, South London, St Margaret's Church.

Prior to 1963 the tower of this church housed a 14 cwt eight which were considered to be too heavy for the structure. In 1963 Mears & Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry recast these bells into a 16 bell chime (a diatonic 12 with 4 semi-tones), with a bass bell weighing a little over 6 cwts.

Pressure caused by the rusting of the bell bolts has caused one of the bells to fracture and fall to the floor. This bell, with a diameter of 21" will be recast, and all the bell bolts in all the bells will be replaced. Maintenance work to the transmission wires will take place and the clavier will be re-fixed once work to the stone floor beneath has been completed.

Further investigation has revealed that another of the bells is cracked in the crown. This will be removed and taken to Soundweld for specialist bronze welding repair.

• The broken bell has been removed from the tower and is at Loughborough.

Ellie Buttery & Lucas Owen helped our bell hanger to removed the second cracked bell from the tower,