Trip to Bell Factory Remembered by Students

The walk around East Hampton is an annual event for third graders at Memorial Elementary School. Among the stops the children make include the Airline Trail and historical society, a visit inside the one-room schoolhouse, and of course, a trip to the Bevin Bell factory.

Beth Haydu, a third grade teacher at Memorial, estimates the school has been doing the walking tour for at least 15 years.

She calls the walk a positive experience for all.

“Each place that we stop, I ask my kids to tell their parents what they’ve learned,” Haydu said. “The parents are always raving about the trip because they learned stuff they didn’t know about East Hampton.”

Perhaps one of the best parts of the bell factory stop is that the children receive a Bevin Bell.

“The kids really, really like it,” Haydu said of the tour they get, “and they love getting the bell.”

Each year the type of bell is usually different, but during the last trip extra bells were given out, which the class shared with their Hartford Friends, a Global Readers buddy group.

Haydu’s class was among those that went on the walk in October. On Tuesday, after her students returned from their long weekend, the fire that destroyed the country’s last bell manufacturer, was the topic of conversation in the classroom just as it was throughout town.

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“The kids were all talking about it,” Haydu said. “One of the kids said to me, ‘We should make a memorial to Mr. Bevin,’ and then another one of the kids said ‘No, let’s write a letter.’ So, that’s where the letter writing came from. Our class and another class wrote letters.”

Haydu brought the letters to town hall on Thursday where she turned them over to Acting Town Manager Jeff Jylkka who in turn got them to Matt Bevin, the owner of Bevin Bros. Manufacturing. The timing could not have been more perfect.

“They were just priceless. They were absolutely precious and priceless,” Bevin said on Thursday night. “They brought a great smile to my face, which was well needed.”

Bevin actually got to speak to some of the children after they had walked up Bevin Road to the gate on Wednesday evening.

“They were telling me about their trip to the factory and telling me about the bells,” Bevin said. “It was wonderful.”

On Thursday, Haydu’s class shared some of the letters they wrote and memories of their trip to the factory with Patch. The trip was still fresh in their minds, from learning how the bells were made to the noise in the factory.

The factory in action wasn't all that was loud, one student remembered.

“When everybody got their bell everybody was ringing it,” Angela recalled.

With the news that Bevin will try to rebuild, third graders might well be making noise during their walk around East Hampton for years to come.

Meantime, Haydu also has a Bevin Bell, a hand bell that she keeps on her desk. At times, it too can make a little noise.

“I use it to get the kids quiet,” she said.

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