(From left) David Bebarfald, Jes Sorensen, Bryan Barkla and Caleb Rowe admire the bell that is moving from St Barnabas' Church to the Westmere Presbyterian Memorial Church. Photo/ Bevan Conley
(From left) David Bebarfald, Jes Sorensen, Bryan Barkla and Caleb Rowe admire the bell that is moving from St Barnabas' Church to the Westmere Presbyterian Memorial Church. Photo/ Bevan Conley
The bell which once rang out in Gonville to warn of fire in the city is on the move.
The Westmere Presbyterian Memorial Church has a wooden bell and calls people to service electronically every Sunday, Minister David Bebarfald said. The 1924 church that has been extensively strengthened and refurbishedneeded something better.
"We were scouring the place for a proper metal bell," he said.
He heard about one through Whanganui Anglican Parish administrator Annette Dalman. She said the bell from St Barnabas Church on Durie Hill might be available now that the church is demolished. Bebarfald thought that sounded great.
Anglican parishioners voted unanimously to gift the bell at their annual general meeting, Whanganui Vicar Caleb Rowe said. The parish is in a amalgamation process, figuring out where it wants to grow and invest, and is discovering that it has some surplus.
The tower recently added to the Westmere Presbyterian Memorial Church will not be used for the new bell. Photo / Bevan Conley
The Westmere congregation is quite excited about the new bell, Bebarfald said. It's being stored at Hugh Reid's property until a new tower can be built to house it.
A stained glass window designed by Greg Hall was added when the Westmere Presbyterian Memorial Church was strengthened. Photo / Bevan Conley
Bebarfald would like the new tower to honour the ministry of the Reverend Michael Jackson-Campbell, who served in the Royal Navy in World War II and then became a faithful minister of the church.
The former St Barnabas Church on Durie Hill is now "rubble", the Anglican parishioner in charge of options for the property, Kevin Gaskin, said. The land will become three house sections.
The former St Barnabas' Church on Durie Hill has been demolished. Photo / Supplied
Demolition contractors lowered its bell down on a rope and the church did not want to turn it into scrap metal.
The bell was forged in Dunedin, at the A & T Burt foundry, and its Whanganui story goes back further than its time on Durie Hill.
Before there were telephones Whanganui firefighters were alerted to fires by bells, with one in each ward of the city. The St Barnabas bell once hung at Gonville Fire Station, Whanganui Fire & Emergency historian Bryan Barkla said.
It was one of several that told volunteers, through the pattern of its rings, where a fire was located. It's one of only two of those original bells left in town. The other was the main fire station's bell, and still hangs in the fire watch tower above Cooks Gardens.
Caleb and Billy Rowe are the new co-vicars for the Whanganui Anglican Parish. They arrived two and a half years ago, and have been curates/"apprentices" to Archdeacon Stuart Goodin since January 2018.
Billy Rowe, nee Gerritsen, grew up in Whanganui where her father was a chaplain at Wanganui Collegiate School. Caleb Rowe is from England. The two will be formally installed as vicars in the next few weeks.
Goodin left Whanganui for St Peter's Anglican Church in Palmerston North in May, and is now also Bishop's Chaplain for the region.
