by Marilyn Armstrong
Earlier this summer I was to ring the bell. I went up to Founder’s Hall with trepidation because over the years I have been part of a team ringing the bell and sometimes I had to step on chairs to reach the rope. I was assured that the rope had been tied in a fashion that there was a ninety-degree loop that I could reach, so out I went. They were right. The rope was exactly how they said it would be. Well, it didn’t used to be this hard to make the bell sound! It took all my weight to pull that rope enough for the bell to be heard loud and clear. I got to giggling imagining myself looking like the Christmas card that shows the mice holding on as the ropes moved up and down to ring those bells.
I found some facts in a cookbook that this church put out about 2003. Bob Brown, the historian, supplied so much information about the history of this church. The bell is a large brass bell that was originally made to be used on a locomotive! It was given to the church by Cec Allen, the last manager of the Canadian Locomotive plant which became known as Block D. It is heavy enough that it was not allowed to be rung after the fire in June 1965 until a new and stronger bell tower could be built. The church bell has been rung off and on just before 10 a.m. on Sunday mornings over all the years since it found its new home.
So, if you hear some giggling in Upper Founders Hall at 5 to 10 on a Sunday morning, it is not a ghost, it’s probably me and my imagination.