Member Article

Darlington school’s bell tolls again

One of Darlington’s oldest schools can ring its traditional bell again thanks to a local business.

Corporation Road Community Primary School, part of the Heathfield Academy Trust, has its own original bell tower but the bell has been missing for decades. Dave Stone, who runs Stone Technical Services (STS) in Darlington, heard about the school’s plight through members of his local community and met with headteacher, Ann Pringleton, to see if STS Restoration could offer its help, free of charge.

STS Restoration has spent several weeks re-making the traditional bell, teaming up with Middlesbrough-based William Lane, specialist castings experts with over 150 years’ experience, to complete the project.

The re-casted bell has been moulded using the original bell used on Middlesbrough’s Transporter Bridge and STS has designed it to fit into Corporation Road Primary School’s old bell tower.

To celebrate the reinstating of the bell, STS will be speaking at a special assembly to explain to the pupils and staff how the bell was re-made.

Dave Stone said: “Preserving artefacts in our local community is of utmost importance to us and when we heard about the school’s plight we knew it was the type of project we could help out with alongside the creative team at William Lane. We take tremendous pride in Darlington and this has been a lovely project to work on- and the bell will now toll again for future generations to hear.”

Ann Pringleton, headteacher at Corporation Road Primary School, said: “We are delighted that the bell has been reinstated and our original bell tower is back in full working order. We’d like to thank STS Restoration for helping us to bring the bell tower back to the local community.”

Ian Williams, director of economic growth at Darlington Borough Council, said: “STS is developing a strong reputation for working on high profile national projects and this helps to raise Darlington’s profile. This project is a perfect example of STS’s great work in the local community and it is fantastic to see the bell tower ringing again at Corporation Road Primary School.”

STS employs a team of 40 and is made up of five divisions – STS RopeSpec, STS Lightning Protection, STS Restoration, STS Maintenance and Facilities Management and STS Conservation.

Darlington brothers, Dave and Grahame Stone, established Stone Technical Services in 1998 and now have offices in Edinburgh city centre, near Stockport in Cheshire and in central London as well as their HQ on Kellaw Road in Darlington

STS are experts in the field of historic restoration and maintenance projects and work with various churches, councils and schools around the UK as well as the likes of English Heritage and the National Trust and on buildings such as St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Hall and the Royal Courts of Justice.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Addison Associates .