The bells we ring today date from 1804 and 1840. A new ring of 6 was ordered from Mears and Stainbank in Whitechapel in 1804, and tradition has it that they were first rung to celebrate Nelson's victory at Trafalgar. Two trebles were added in 1840. These were cast by C Oliver, a Mears and Stainbank employee whose idea of moon­lighting was to cast a few bells on the side.

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Sadly, the wooden frame was always weak and by the end of the century the "go" of the bells left much to be desired. Gillett and Johnson, bell­founders of Croydon, had condemned the frame and fittings by 1930, but the bells continued to be rung off and on, and even in the early sixties the Beddington band rang several brisk quarter peals (lasting around 45 minutes). However, one night in 1963 it all proved just too much and, during the ringing, the tenor gudgeon broke, leaving the bell mouth upwards in the pit with its wheel demolished. (The tenor is the largest bell, then weighing around 12 cwt).

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With a local band of only one person, and considerable reconstruction work needed on the tenor fittings, there was little prospect of anything being done, until in 1969 the church was left a legacy by Miss Dorothy Collett, to be used for restoring the tower and bells. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry put the bells back into ringable order to enable a check to be made on tower movement. The bells were then lowered and stored in the church, the old frame removed and the building work carried out, including the installation of a concrete ring beam.

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By now inflation was galloping along, the available funds were nowhere near enough to pay for the new frame and the work on the bells, and it looked as though things would grind to a halt. At this point the Surrey Association Belfry Restoration Committee, master­minded by the indefatigable Bob Cooles, took an active interest. In 1977 we set up a charity, the "Friends of Carshalton Bells" to raise the money to complete the job.

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This was when I first stepped through the doors of All Saints. Our Treasurer was Bill Wedge, I was the secretary, and Jill Hale was the driving force. With the help of the late Dr Ian Smith, we obtained a great deal of support from Carshalton Rotary Club — one of our joint activities was raffling a mini. I remember it cost us about £2,000 to buy the car, (of course covered by the ticket sales) and it was won by the late George Blanks of Elwyns. Other fund raising events were jumble sales, sponsored swims and at least one Auction. The Surrey Association of Church Bell Ringers gave us what was then a landmark grant: £1,000.

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In order to save money, the bell foundry allowed us to carry out the re­hanging ourselves, under the supervision of one of their professional bell­hangers for the trickier bits. Thus ringers from various parts of Surrey and South London threw themselves enthusiastically into the work, which got under way in September 1979 with the goal of getting the bells ringing by Christmas. All went smoothly and the dedication service took place on 22 December 1979, conducted by the Rev Leigh Edwards who always keenly supported the project. We were delighted with the go and the sound of the bells. In the retuning, a certain amount of metal was shaved off the bells resulting in a very slightly lighter ring with a somewhat higher pitch.

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Over the next few months, with the help of ringers from neighbouring towers, we trained a new band. This included Lesley Page, who recently passed away at the age of nearly 100, and Jonathan Cady, the very bright older son of Roger. Jill Hale's two daughters were ringers, as were the two daughters of her fellow church­warden Norman Longley.

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In May 1980 we hosted the Surrey Association's centenary AGM. Carshalton was an appropriate choice for this, as it was in the King's Arms, (which stood in the High Street a hundred yards from the church), that the Surrey Association was founded in 1880.

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Rosemary Lilley, March 2019