Well, not new, but newly refurbished. When we went to Nottingham for the Ringing Roadshow in September, we handed over our Taylor 12 to Lewis Benfield for an overhaul. After doing the work he dropped them off at my dad's house because he was there for some ringing, and yesterday we had our first look at them. They've come out beautifully. He's given them a good polish, replaced the felts on the clapper springs, replaced the leather washers where the clapper screws into the bell (it had become difficult to get some of the clappers tight while remaining lined up with the handles), and put felt covers on some of the clapper pegs. The handles didn't need any work - some of them have cracked a bit over the years, but not enough to be a problem.

There were enough people here yesterday to try them out in rounds on 12, and they sounded good. The sound of the bells themselves hasn't changed, but all the rattles from the clappers have gone, and the felts make the back bells a bit more resonant.

We'll have to wait until we get back home to try them out for change-ringing, but we've arranged another Cambridge Maximus session for the New Year, so that will do.