ANOTHER LIBERTY BELL
There can't be many businesses you can return to for the same product after a
quarter of a millennium and have it manufactured mere yards from where the original
was made, but that's what happened when USA Renaissance commissioned the Foundry to make a full-size
replica of the Liberty Bell, complete with headstock and fittings.
It also has rivet heads cast on its surface and a 'crack' engraved between them to match
those on the original.
The bell was produced to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the landing in the USA of
the original in September 1752. Pictured with the bell are Foundry employees John Bentham
& Ghulam 'Raz' Rasool, who made the headstock and assembled the fittings.
This is not the first replica of the Liberty Bell to be cast at the Foundry and it probably
won't be the last. Two-and-a-half centuries later, and our relationship with the Liberty
Bell continues.
THE QUEEN MUM
At 11.30am on Tuesday 9th April 2002, and in common with many thousands of others across
the country, the directors and staff of Whitechapel Bell Foundry observed two minutes silence
to honour the passing of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The beginning and ending
of the silence was marked by the striking of the tolling bell in the Foundry yard. The last
time this had been so tolled was in remembrance of the victims of 11th September 2001.
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