MARCH - A party made up almost exclusively of members of Brentwood U3A were conducted round this historic enterprise that is believed to be Britain's oldest manufacturing company. Established in 1570, the foundry has been in continuous business since that date and being in Whitechapel can  boast of being around at the time of Jack the Ripper. The biggest bell ever cast at Whitechapel and possibly the most famous in the world is Big Ben, and the gauge used to make the mould for the bell still hangs on the wall of the foundry moulding shop to this day. Another of the world's most famous bells, the Liberty Bell - which is on permanent display in Philadelphia - was cast at Whitechapel over 250 years ago. As a working foundry the availability of visits is limited to those times when the foundry is not working - weekends - and this means that it is very difficult to book tours. At the time of our visit all tours for 2010 were full and bookings for 2011 would not be taken until September. The visit was altogether a great success and the tour, which lasted around and hour and a quarter, was conducted by a man (believed to be one of the partners), who had a total knowledge of the processes that went into creating the bells - from the largest church bells to the smallest and very beautiful hand bells. Pictured below are several of the sections showing the different processes which on the face of it all looked a bit chaotic. (Report: Brian Leith)