Molten metal flows in a white-hot stream into the giant cast for one of York Minster's six new bells.

HOT METAL: Foundry staff, working on the new York Minster bells, pour molten metal into an underground cast. It will take a week to cool

Foundry workers at Loughborough-based John Taylor Bellfounders have now cast all but one of the Minster's six new chime bells, which will sound every quarter hour and on the hour to accompany the Minster's famous Great Peter.

The full chime will be heard for the first time on August 4 - the Queen Mother's 100th birthday. A £250,000 appeal to pay for the new Minster bells was launched by the Duke of York last month.

The bell being cast in the photograph - the fifth in the series of six - will be more than five feet across at its mouth, almost five feet tall, and will weigh over two tonnes.

But it is dwarfed by the biggest bell in the series, which weighs more than three tonnes.

The white-hot 'bell metal' - a form of bronze - used to cast the bells is heated to more than 1100 degrees C.

It is then poured into a giant underground mould, only the top of which remains above ground. The sand insulation packed all around it ensures the metal cools gradually - giving a better quality of cast.

Colin Banton, business development manager of John Taylor Bellfounders, which more than 80 years ago cast both the 12 bells in the Minster's South West Tower and, a year later, the Great Peter itself - said the bell would remain underground for a week while it cooled.

Craftsmen will then clean, smooth and tune it, to ensure it chimes at the correct pitch.

The final bell in the series is to be cast next Thursday and all six bells will be transported to York by lorry at the beginning of May.

York Minster spokesman Brigadier Peter Lyddon confirmed today the Minster bells appeal had now reached £72,000 - but that still leaves a long way to go if the target of £250,000 is to be reached by August 4. Urging people to keep the donations coming in, he said: "These bells will be around for centuries. This is a wonderful opportunity to mark the new Millennium and to celebrate the life of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother."

Anyone wishing to contribute to the bells fund should send cheques, payable to York Minster bells Appeal, to PO Box 419, York YO1 7YT, or pay them in at any branch of HSBC, Barclays, Bradford and Bingley, Halifax, Lloyds TSB or Nat West. Alternatively log onto the appeal website on www.Yorkminsterbells.org and use the secure donation system.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.