Changing Tempo ...

... getting some Zzzzzzz

Wednesday 6th & Thursday 7th August 2008

After a manic week of tearing across the country in search of the ultimate carillon the pace began to slow down after St Helens, thankfully.

Al and I were reunited with the kids who had been ably entertained by grandparents & aunties and uncles and the like ... however, looking at some of their photos I think they were suffering from some kind of madness, too.

After a family day out at Snibston Discovery Park, Team Carillon were back in force and on the trail of bells on Thursday but not travelling beyond Loughborough for a change.

We thought a visit to Taylors Eayre and Smith Ltd was in order. It is, after all, on our doorstep AND the largest bell foundry in the world. It boasts an unbroken history from the 14th century, although it's not been in Loughborough all that time. Find out more from the website:

http://www.taylorbells.co.uk/

For fear of beginning to sound like a bit of a geek when it comes to bells I'd like to say that there is more to bells than meets the ear! It was a really interesting tour.

At 1pm Caroline was giving her usual weekly recital at Loughborough's War Memorial Carillon in Queens Park. It was a beautiful day and the 90 steps to the clavier seemed nothing now compared to what we'd been doing over the last 10 days and, what had always previously seemed like a treacherous climb to the top, was a doddle (although Cazzie declined this one)!

Only two more carillon visits to go this week - Spalding and Saltley. Then there's a week's break before Caroline is playing at Bournville - that completes most of the tour bar London, which we can't get to at the moment, and Cobh and Armagh which we are visiting in the Autumn. Still lots to add to the blog, though, and lots of video clips to download so don't go'way mind!