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World famous bellfounder Taylors, Eayre and Smith has given its latest Mercedes Vito and Sprinter vans a ringing endorsement.
The company’s engineers are regularly despatched in their new vans to churches all over Britain, to deliver, repair and service bells.
Supplied by Leicester dealer Mertrux, the Vito 111CDI Compact and Sprinter 311CDI Long are based at Taylors, Eayre and Smith’s 168-year-old foundry in Loughborough.
General Manager Mick Spencer commissioned a replacement for one of his two older Sprinters and added the Vito to support the firm’s burgeoning service operation.
“We were very pleased with the Mercedes vans we had before these two, and anticipate that the new ones will be as equally reliable,” he says.
“Much of our work entails maintaining and installing new frames for existing bells, and carrying out services on them, rather than making new bells.
“The Vito has a multi-purpose role and is ideal for engineers carrying out routine servicing work. It’s comfortable and car-like to drive, but despite its compact dimensions it also offers a very useful load area for carrying the tools and spare parts we need.
“The larger Sprinter is used as a mobile workshop and has the benefit, thanks to a payload that comfortably exceeds one tonne, of being able to carry smaller bells too.
“This is important because we’re keen to achieve cost savings by undertaking as many of our own deliveries as possible, rather than always having to go to the expense of commissioning a haulage company.”
Taylors, Eayre and Smith, which can trace its origins back some 700 years, is the largest bellfounder in the world, and one of only two in the UK.
Since 1784 the business has been in the hands of the Taylor family and two years ago it adopted its current name, following a merger with a bellhanger and engineering specialist.
The firm produced the largest bell in England, ‘Great Paul’ in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, which was cast in Loughborough in 1881 and tips the scales at a massive 17 tonnes.
Bells cast in Loughborough to last at least 300 years also ring in churches as far afield as Australia, Bermuda, Malta and the United States.
In a typical week the foundry will cast three bells. Sizes vary from those that measure just a few inches in diameter to one weighing 10 tonnes and costing up to £300,000. Taylors’ craftsmen also make musical handbells, small chimes and carillons (sets of bells played with a keyboard).
Mr Spencer adds: “We expect to get plenty of mileage out of our new Mercedes vans – they will certainly earn their keep.” |
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