Northern Suburbs, Bellville East, Dutch Reformed Church

Abstract

Bellville, Dutch Reformed Church, East. There is a very interesting bell in the slim tower of the Dutch Reformed Church in Bellville-East. The bell is beautifully decorated and perfectly kept. On top of the bell one finds a first decorative moulding wire with flowers and angels playing the violin. Below this a band that runs all around the bell and with the following text: + A.D. 1968 Petit & Fritsen Aarle-Rixtel, Holland 5173 +. On the reverse side of the bell stands Supplied by South African Organ Builders Pty Limited, Silverton. Then follows a second decorative band with hanging flowers. On the front side of the bell appears the crest or seal of the foundry. It contains 3 bells (1 and 2) on which one can find the words Soli Deo Gloria (Solely to the Glory of God). At the sound bow one finds a further set of five moulding wires. The Royal Bell Foundry Petit & Fritsen is the third oldest family business in the whole of the Netherlands. It started operations in 1660 and remained one of the main bell founders in the world. In 2012 it was amalgamated with the Koninklijke Eijsbouts in Asten, the Netherlands. We have not found information on this specific bell in the Regionaal Historisch Centrum, Eindhoven that houses the archives of the foundry. We learned from these archives that South African Organ Builders (SAOB) often ordered a bulk of bells from Petit & Fritsen without giving information of their ultimate destination. This happened rather frequently in the sixties of last century. Even when we know the date of delivery, it is an almost impossible tasks to try to find out where these bells ultimately ended up. Of course, this problem could be resolved if one could gain access to the archives of SAOB.