New Life for an Old Bell

The bell from the old school in Mickle Trafford (now the Village Hall) has been lying in the vestry of St Peter’s Church on top of the safe for many years after it was rescued by Walter Johnson and mounted ready to be put on display. Nowhere seemed quite the right place, so there it stayed, until this centenary year of the present Mickle Trafford Village School, when it was realised that the school was the proper place for it to live. Thanks to Ian Tucker and Walter Johnson, the bell and its mount were cleaned and polished, and presented to the school on its anniversary, 19 October. It is sited on the wall, high enough to be out of reach of small hands, inside the entrance area. A plaque below says: “The original Mickle Trafford school bell was presented by St Peter’s Church Plemstall to Mickle Trafford Village School to commemorate its centenary 19 October 2009”. We don’t know how old the bell is, but for many years it would ring out across the fields to call children to the school. It now many not be regularly rung, but it now helps to carry a message across time rather than space, linking the present school with its heritage.