EASTHAMPTON – A city church is looking to give back to the community with the music of its bell.
“Bells are just a joyful noise,” said Rev. Sherry Tucker, pastor of the Easthampton Congregational Church on Main Street.
It’s been about three decades since the church’s bronze bell rang every hour on the hour, 24 hours a day.
“That was not good for people who have to sleep,” Tucker said. “There were some complaints.”
The bell began ringing regularly once again on Christmas Eve, in what Tucker referred to as a “soft opening.” The plan going forward is for the bell to ring every hour on the hour from noon to 8 p.m. The bell also will ring in the new year at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
When ringing on the hour, the bell rings a number of times equal to the time.
Michael Garjian, a member of the church’s board of trustees, said he considers the sounds of the bell to be an “expression of goodwill.”
Tucker said that the congregation looks at the return of regular ringing as a good thing for the community and that the church will be sensitive to whatever feedback it gets about the ringing.
Garjian said that he got the idea to bring back regular bell ringing after reading an article about churches in New York City synchronizing their church bells. He then worked with Jeff Tannatt to restore the mechanism that controls the automated clapper that strikes the bell.
“Some of those components hadn’t been used for 30 years,” he said.
Tannatt’s father was the keeper of the church’s clock, which actually belongs to the city of Easthampton, a position Jeff Tannatt then took over.
“Most of the maintenance on the clock I take care of and have for 50 years,” he said.
The bell was cast in 1855 by Meneely’s Company of Troy, New York.
Tannatt said that the bell-ringing system is part of the mechanism of the clock and that before the clock was electrified it was physically wound.
Garjian and Tannatt donated the time and materials needed to get the bell-ringing mechanism working again. However, Garjian said that additional work could be done with the bell, including programming the bell-ringing device to ring at different times or placing an electronic device in the bell tower that could play music in the tone of a bell.
Prior to the restoration of the bell-ringing mechanism, the bell was rung by hand before Sunday church services, with a rope. Tucker said that the ringing of the bell by hand before services will continue, something she said was important.
Both Tucker and Garjian emphasized the community-oriented nature of the church, which runs a food bank and provides meals to the hungry. The church’s Food Cupboard is open from 10 a.m. to noon on the second Wednesday of every month, while a free meal is served on the third Friday of designated months from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The church also operates a resale shop on its grounds.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.