Andrew Higson
14 Briargate, Cotgrave
Nottingham NG12 3NT
United Kingdom
011 44 7710 516042
enquires@exaudite.co.uk
www.Exaudite.co.uk
Andrew was born and brought up in Newcastle under Lyme and attended Newcastle High School from 1973 to 1980. Having sang in the local church choir, Andrew developed an interest in the piano and organ. It was this fascination with church instruments that led him to work on the restoration, refurbishment and addition to pipe organs in a number of local establishments. Having initially been offered employment by an organ builder, Andrew chose to direct his interests toward other subjects and was introduced to bell ringing whilst at university in Birmingham, rapidly becoming competent in Change Ringing.
During these initial years of ringing, Andrew began to study more of the technical aspects associated with bells and bell fittings and maintained a set of bells in Birmingham. It was then that he met the staff from John Taylor & Company whilst helping on a refurbishment of the Birmingham Cathedral bells. He was then offered a job at the foundry initially as the manager of their handbell department; a position which he kept for a couple of years.
He then was promoted to the title of Bellmaster where he oversaw the production and tuning of every bell that was produced. It was also at this time that he directed the technicians for the installation of electronic control systems and digital equipment. After this long tenure, Andrew became a director where he continued his normal duties as Bellmaster and, in addition, became responsible for onsite assessments and sales calls. He then became the full time sales director until he left the company in 2013.
In 2014, Andrew established Exaudite, an independent consultation business to manage projects with clients and churches for bell, clock and organ repair. Andrew recently enrolled in one of only two known master piano tuning programs at Newark College. He continues to work with the B. A. Sunderlin Bellfoundry located in Ruther Glen, VA to oversee the only line of traditional loam-molded bells to carillon quality made in the United States.
Andrew’s Change Ringing work can be found at: St Leonard, Shoreditch; South Petherton, Somerset; Carlisle Cathedral; Great St Mary, Cambridge; Trinity church, NY; Frederick, MD; Randwick, New South Wales; and Peterport, Channel Islands.
Carillon work: New treble compass bells on the carillons at Cohasset, MA; Oudewater, Netherlands; Canberra, Australia; and York Minster, Yorkshire.
Other work includes: The Millennium chime, York Minster; Siege Bell, Valletta, Malta; Several chimes of bells on Malta and Gozo with bass bells over 2 tons; and a number of Liberty Bell replicas.