ELECTRONICS TO PROVIDE CHIMES AT ST. CHADS

Wanganui Chronicle, 22 September 1950, Page 4

ELECTRONICS TO PROVIDE CHIMES AT ST. CHADS

Soon St. John’s Hill residents in the vicinity of St. Chad’s Anglican Church, should be able to hear the chiming of bells announcing the beginning of services, but there will not be a single bell in the church belfry! The explanation of this phenomenon is that a set of electronic chimes is shortly to be installed in the church. Through a specially-built ampifier system will be broadcast recordings of the chiming of be’.ls installed in an English church or cathedral. The chimes will form a memorial to the late Rev. W. Lambert, a former priest-in-charge of St. Chad’s. Their installation is at present being delayed until a decision is made on alterations to the belfry and vestry of the church. Until these alterations are carried out, the building of the chimes unit cannot, be begun, because each installation is built to suit local requirements. Even the range of the sound of the bells is controlled by differences in installation To set the chimes in action once the unit has been tuned, the “bellringer’s” duties will consist of little more than placing a recording on a turn-table and dropping the arm of an electric pick-up into position. According to the < leotrician who will be building and installing the chimes —Mr. A. K. Down, of Marton the special recordings used make it extremely difficult for a layman to distinguish the difference between the recorded sound, and sound of actual bells. The recordings are made close to the bells and even reproduce the pulsating echoing of the larger bells. Mr. Down has had. wide experience of the building and installing of electronic chiming units. He has fulfilled orders for churches in various parts of the North Island and was the builder of the fine unit now in use 8t All Saints’ Church Palmerston North. This is the largest installation of its kind in New Zealand. The installaions, he told the “Chronicle,” consist of a set of speci-ally-built amplifiers matched, to a loud-speaker which is coupled to an electric pick-up and a turn-table. With a selection of recordings made of the bells of various English cathedrals and churches, it is possible for each church wishing to have an electronic unit to choose a distinctive set of chimes. , , ~ , Due to the shortage of bells, electronic chimes have become very popular in Australia and New Zealand since the war, he said. Orders are difficult to fulfil because of tne shortage of suitable recordings and equipment, however.