The sixth bell at Acton suffered a broken gudgeon during ringing in September 2013 and all ringing was suspended at Acton until the bell could be stabilised. This was done in January 2014 and the broken gudgoen was removed shortly afterwards with a hope of a repair.
Today, 7th April, the sixth bell has now been rehung not with a repaired gudgeon but with a newly made one!
The work both the stabilise the bell and to rehang it with the new gudgeon was carried out by Stephen Jakeman, Association Bell Restoration Officer, assisted by James White, Acton Tower Captain. Steve called on the services of his brother and nephew to manufacture the new gudgeon, which can be seen in the photograph above, along side the old one (welded together so that measurements could be taken).
With the clapper tied the bell was rung up first by wheel alone and then in the usual way once the rope had been refitted. See the photograph below. It is very much smoother to ring than before and the frame shudder that used to occur on the ringing of this bell seems to have gone.
The first try-out of the bell open, with the others ringing too, will be on Easter Day when a quarter peal will be attempted after the morning service. This is very good news as it was thought that the bell might be out of action for a much longer period of time with ringing limited to the other seven bells.
Quarter peals on (some) first Sundays will now be arranged, as has been the case for a number of years, just to keep the bells in use and to keep the neighbourhood aware of the sound of bells.