First Jubilee bell is cast for pageant

THE first Royal Jubilee bell, Elizabeth, was cast yesterday as part of the preparations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The bell will play an important part in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June.

The bell, donated by the Worshipful Company of Vintners and weighing half a ton, was cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in east London.

It is the largest of eight bells making up the Royal Jubilee Bells, which will be rung from a floating belfry, the first vessel in the pageant.

The bells will be named after members of the Royal Family: Philip, Charles, Anne, Andrew, Edward, William and Henry.

The Philip and William bells were also cast yesterday, and the remaining ones will be made over the next six weeks.

The Belfry Barge will lead the flotilla of up to 1,000 boats as it makes its way from Battersea Bridge to Tower Bridge.

Eight change ringers, members of the Ancient Society of College Youths, will form the Royal Jubilee Bellringers and ring a quarter peal, with churches along the route providing an answering peal.

The bells will then form part of the Church of St James Garlickhythe in London.