Ding! Dong!

We went into town today and made a point to nip into the Cathedral to see the new bells before they are hung in the tower. This is the Malo bell which is rather heavy (over two tonnes if I recall correctly). There are several of them and they have all been newly made, the original ones having corroded away over the years. The cathedral was only completed in 1971, and I don't know if the bells that were here there were from the original destroyed by the US Army during the second world war (to get the Nazi occupiers out) or were in fact only 40 years old from the rebuild.

Anyhow for the trivia boffins French bells hang this way up, unlike British church bells which hang upside down and apparently the British method is newer (older British church bells hang this way up) and gives the bell ringer more control and the ability to make a better sound - or something like that.

All I know is that most church bells are badly out of tune and it's only when a modern set is installed that has been properly tuned that you notice how bad most of the old one were....!

This is a back blip, so I think by now the bells are now in the bell tower of the cathedral, and if I open the window to the north side of the house we should be able to hear them if the wind is blowing from the north.