Hope Bell cast at historic Loughborough bell foundry

The Hope Bell will be a memorial to those lost in the pandemic.

Charnwood Borough Council commissioned the bell which was cast at John Taylor & Co in Loughborough, the last major bell foundry in the UK.

Over one tonne of molten bell metal was poured into a mould for the Hope Bell. The mould will be broken open in several days’ time before the bell is completed in the foundry’s workshop.

Cllr Jonathan Morgan, Leader of Charnwood Borough Council and co-chair of the Loughborough Town Deal Board, said: “This is a historic occasion for Loughborough. The impact of the pandemic will be felt for many years, and we not only wanted to mark that in some way, but to do so with something that is unique to Loughborough, bells.

“The Hope Bell will remember those we have lost, but also how communities came together to look after each other and how organisations like the NHS saved countless lives.”

The Hope Bell will be a clock chime installation with five bells. The main Hope Bell will sound the hour and the quarter bells on the quarter hours.

It will have a stone base and a band of gold-coloured metal will be wrapped around the top, encircling the bells, and giving a visual feeling of sound emanating from them.

The structure will stand around seven and a half metres high.

The quarter bells have already been cast.

It is anticipated the Hope Bell will be installed in Queen’s Park in 2024.

Cllr Jenny Bokor, the Council’s lead member for Loughborough, said: “The Hope Bell will be a wonderful addition to Queen’s Park. It will provide somewhere people can go and reflect but also remember how positively people came together to help each other. That is a very strong message we want the bell to send to future generations as the Hope Bell will stand in Queen’s Park for many, many decades.”