About this event
Throughout history, bells have played a powerful role in bringing people together – calling communities to gather, marking moments of celebration, remembrance, and change. In Loughborough, the bell is more than just a sound; it is a symbol of the town’s industrial heritage and vibrant present-day community.
The Loughborough Bell Festival was a free community celebration themed around heritage and music
Festival beginnings:
The centrepiece of the 2023 Festival was an extraordinary 7-foot-tall willow bell created by local artist Nita Rao. Inspired by Great Paul – the largest bell ever cast in Britain, made in Loughborough for St Paul’s Cathedral – the sculpture travelled through the town from All Saints Church to the Carillon Tower in Queen’s Park on an antique trailer pulled by a steam engine. Its arrival marked the beginning of an afternoon filled with live orchestral music, heritage displays, creative workshops, and the chance for visitors to hear and try handbells themselves.
Visitors gathered in Queen’s Park for a community handbell concert where people of all ages joined in the ringing tradition, while history trails and talks explored the town’s unique role as home to John Taylor & Co, the world’s largest working bell foundry. Families took part in creative workshops, making miniature bells and sound-based artworks, while the town centre came alive with pop-up performances that filled the streets with music and movement inspired by the sound of bells. A special sound installation blended recorded bells with live music, creating an atmosphere that was both haunting and celebratory. Together, these events brought residents, artists, historians and musicians into a shared celebration of the bell as a living symbol of Loughborough.
Growing the festival in 2024:
The Loughborough Bell Festival 2024 took place from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 October, offering a free three-day celebration of heritage, creativity and community spirit. The weekend opened with a dramatic peal of bells from All Saints Church, followed by a large-scale projection on the Charnwood Arts, blending community artworks, celebratory footage and historic clips from Taylor’s Bell Foundry.
Across the town, visitors explored a trail of bell-themed creativity, from a mobile belfry and interactive pop-up spaces to stalls hosted by local groups and open days at Rectory Museum. This connected Loughborough’s unique heritage with contemporary creativity in an inclusive weekend of sound, history and celebration.
Bells, Bridges and Belonging
Bells, Bridges & Belonging is a creative heritage project led by Charnwood Arts in partnership with One to One Development Trust and hosted at Taylors Bell Foundry Museum, celebrating Loughborough and Charnwood’s unique history, culture, and community identity.
It’s the third of 3 festivals funded by The Arts Council, making the final festival a digital installation that is available via a barcode online, or see it in person in at least 5 other venues over the next 12 months using the either the touch screen version or projection. The message centres on three powerful symbols:
Bells: Honours Loughborough’s world-famous bell-founding heritage, how bells mark time, events, memory, and community life.
Bridges: Represents connection between people, places, past & present, different cultures and generations.
Belonging: Explores what it means to be part of this area, sharing stories, voices, and experiences of all communities here.
At its heart is an interactive bell that transforms as you journey through a timeline, weaving together film, archive material, contemporary art, poetry, and an evocative soundtrack. Accessible on different digital devices, the work is presented both as an online installation and as an interactive touchscreen with projection.
Annual recaps:
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Bell Festival 2023
Highlights and reporting
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Bell Festival 2024
Highlights and reporting
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Bell Festival 2025/26
A short film celebrating the partnerships, created through Bells, Bridges and Belonging