image of St Andrew's, Lismore

Lismore's staged return to ringing

5 ringers in tower
L-R: Robert Weatherby, Rob Weatherby, John Maloney, Margaret Weatherby, Kevin Walsh

The repairs to St Andrew's Lismore belltower are nearly complete. Following a thorough check of the fittings, six ringers had a practice ring on 3rd January, with a video posted on the ANZAB Facebook page. On Sunday 7th January we decided to surprise our parishioners and rang 5 bells between the two church services. See the 5 happy bellringers in the photo above. Julia Stewart was the sixth who joined us for the practice ring.

Our Bishop has agreed to bless and sanctify the bells again seeing they have been rehung and we are making arrangements for that. We are hoping to open our tower to visitors again around Easter. Please contact us beforehand if you are able to visit.

Margaret Weatherby
9 January 2024

Repair work

Tower

So many months after the February and March 2022 floods, scaffolding has gone up at the seriously damaged tower at St Andrew’s Lismore. When the tower work is finished they will then start inside to repair the bells, fittings, new floors and ceilings etc. The Bellringers have kept together with handbell practices.

Margaret Weatherby
18 September 2023

Bells unringable on their 20th anniversary

With the damage to the tower structure caused by the February and March 2022 floods, the bells have been silent other than one brief period of chiming of the tenor 96 times using a temporary rope, done to honour the life of Queen Elizabeth II at the time of her funeral.

Given the shortage of trades people, it will be some time until the tower structure is repaired, at which stage we hope the bells will then be restored.

The pictures show the state of the tower and bells on the 20th anniversary of their installation.

Margaret Weatherby
30 November 2022

Bell Bell
Deconstructed ceiling Deconstructed ceiling

Storm Damage Causes Suspension of Ringing at Lismore, January 2019

The tower at St Andrew's, Lismore, has been struck by a severe electrical storm, and damage includes all electrical wiring blown out and light fittings smashed, as well as a small fire. We are awaiting insurance assessors as other damage occured to the church (e.g. to the sound system). Below is a gallery of images of the damage in the ringing room.

Margaret Weatherby

Storm damage at St Andrew's, Lismore, January 2019Storm damage at St Andrew's, Lismore, January 2019
Storm damage at St Andrew's, Lismore, January 2019Storm damage at St Andrew's, Lismore, January 2019
Storm damage at St Andrew's, Lismore, January 2019

Lismore celebrates consecration and installation of new Bishop of Grafton, 1 March 2014

On Saturday 1st March, Dr Sarah Macneil was consecrated and installed as the 11th Bishop of Grafton at Christ Church Cathedral in Grafton. As the Cathedral does not have a bell tower, St Andrew’s Lismore marked the occasion by ringing a half-peal followed by a quarter peal whilst the service was taking place in Grafton. The Grafton service and the Lismore ringing both commenced at 10 am.

Bishop Sarah is the first woman to be elected as a Diocesan Bishop in Australia. The bells rang not only during a long service but having two separate rings enabled as many ringers as possible to participate.

Lismore Half Peal Band

Half peal band: Wes McVeigh, John Maloney, Geoff Cawley, Margaret Weatherby, Robert Weatherby (snr) and Kevin Walsh

Lismore quarter peal band

Quarter peal band: Jonathan Laurence, Sally Laurence, Margaret Weatherby, Robert Weatherby (snr) and John Maloney.

Margaret Weatherby

Lismore Peal milestone, September 2013

On Sunday, 29 September 2013, we rang our first peal by a locally trained band.

Lismore, New South Wales
St Andrew
Sunday 29 September 2013 in 2hours 42mins (4-1-21)
5040 Plain Bob Minimus

  1. John J. C. Maloney
  2. Geoffrey G. V. Cawley
  3. Robert T. W. Weatherby (c)
  4. Robert P. Weatherby
  5. Margaret A. Weatherby

First Peal 1, 2, 4 and 5.
First Peal as Conductor 3.
First Peal rung by an all locally trained band.
All members of the band are the remaining 5 ringers who learnt to ring the bells when they were installed in 2002. Rung to celebrate the Feast Day of St Michaels and All Angels who have shined a guiding light during the ring. Special thanks the Parish Priest, Rev. Mark Harris who blessed the ringers and ring beforehand.

Lismore Peal band

The band, in ringing order

Here we are at "The Rous" afterwards. Interesting ages of the band - 24, 45, 54, 66 and Geoff 78. Not sure now many ringers have rung their first peal at 78!

Lismore peal band celebrates

Margaret Weatherby

10th Anniversary of Lismore bells, 2012

Friday 30th November, 2012 (St Andrew's Day) was 10 years since the original 6 bells from Wilton were dedicated and first rung at St Andrew's, Lismore. A peal was rung to mark the occasion, and it included the first ringing of an extent of St Andrew's Differential Bob Minor (especially composed for the occasion by Adam Beer).

Lismore peal band

The band: Patrick Johns 4, Enid Roberts 3, Ian McCulloch 5, Kellie Hajek 2, Adam Beer 6 (C) and Robert Weatherby Jnr 1.

Robert is the first local Lismore trained ringer to ring a peal in the Lismore tower. It was great to have Enid Roberts in the band because she was one of the ringers who taught beginners 10 years ago. From the Northern Towers Branch we had Kellie, Patrick and Ian from Brisbane. The final member of the band was Adam Beer who came all the way from Perth.

On the Saturday we were joined by Peter and Lynn Healy and Steve Skitmore from Brisbane, Kim and Carol Quinn from Armidale and Corinne Duncan from Perth, and we had a great day of general ringing, with two quarter peals being rung. The first included two locals, Robert Jnr and Margaret Weatherby, and the second included Robert Jnr, and was of St Andrew's Differential Bob Minor rung as a quarter peal for the first time.

Sunday events included our regular service ringing and we continued with general ringing later in the morning. Unfortunately the heat reached 40 degrees during our ringing and we decided not to attempt any further quarters and finished our day earlier than planned.

On the Saturday night we had a celebratory dinner at our post practice pub - "The Rous" - with 28 people present.

A big thanks to all those who have helped us during the first 10 years of St Andrews bells.

Margaret Weatherby

St Andrew's, Lismore, damaged by hailstorm, 9 October 2007

A severe hailstorm struck Lismore on Tuesday, 9 October 2007. St Andrew's suffered bad roof damage (see image below).

Many windows on the southern side of the church and tower were broken. An assessment of damage to the copper spire and sound lantern is yet to be made. No harm to the bells and fittings, though things are bound to be damp as the bell chamber has generous leadlight windows (near the light shining in the image below), and lots of holes are evident in these.

Lismore, St Andrew's roof damage

The cost of repairs to the church may be as high as A$5m. The only damage related to the bells was a sodden carpet in the ringing room. The windows of the bell chamber remain boarded up.

Ringing resumed after a temporary suspension of one Sunday service and a practice session.

Lismore, St Andrew's roof damage

Images from Lismore, June 2008

St Andrew's, Lismore

Ringing has been suspended at St Andrew's, Lismore, until repairs to the spire and sound lantern are completed. These images show work in progress on the church itself. Work on the tower may take up to three months to complete. The top image shows a new Welsh slate tile roof being laid on the church few weeks ago.

St Andrew's, Lismore

The boarding over the tower windows has since been removed revealing brand new glass leadlights. Major work on the interior of the church is also in progress. Images and report courtesy Robert Weatherby senior.

Lismore news, October 2008

Lismore's tower under repair

Good news! Practice ringing has been resumed (from Wednesday, 24 September), but service ringing remains suspended. Tower repairs are all but complete, although the scaffolding remains in place. Image and report courtesy Robert Weatherby senior.

Lismore news, December 2008

Lismore, St Andrew's

On Sunday, 7th December, a service of thanksgiving was held for the repairs (some 9 months of work) to the church fabric (roof, windows), interior (flooring, carpeting), organ and importantly tower and spire following the October 2007 storm. The bells rang before and after the service. Full Sunday ringing has re-commenced following final minor adjustments to the tower. This image was taken 3 weeks ago. The red terra cotta ridging on the roof was not evident before the 2007 storm but it has been faithfully restored to original specifications. Image and report courtesy Robert Weatherby senior.

This page supplements the ANZAB Tower Directory, and records further information about the tower, its bells and ringers.

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