Bay window/curtain pole advice please

[BewareOfTheToddler]

Would welcome any advice on our curtain pole/bay window dilemma, please!

We inherited a lovely brass curtain pole in a bay window in our new house. It's fixed to the ceiling in three places. We've literally only had curtains up for six weeks and they have brought the whole pole down tonight, leaving a bigger hole than I'd like.

This isn't the first time it's happened and I don't think the fixings are sufficient to support the weight of the pole plus any curtains (these are only to sill length, but are lined chenille).

So, what do we do now?

As far as I can see, the options are to replace with another pole, or get a track. The window goes right up to the ceiling so any pole would have to fix into it (see above) and I can't see how you'd get the curtains past the additional brackets unless there is something clever I've not thought of?

But I can't see how you could fix a track when it would basically need to go on the ceiling? Also, can you convert eyelet curtains to go on a track?

Would welcome any and all suggestions from anyone who knows more about curtains than me! that would be most people

Am really irritated by this as I like the pole and new curtains and don't really want the hassle of forking out yet more money! (Cursing previous owners who went for style over substance....)

Oh, and probably also relevant: the window is immediately below a gable and I don't think the ceiling is that substantial in that part of the room - could be wrong though.

We have a metal pole from John Lewis that goes around our bay. It has curved bits and special rings that go around the corners, although they do get stuck sometimes.

I've used "Fineline" bendable aluminium tracks on several windows now with quite heavy curtains, and they've held up really well. They come with fixing things that go either into the wall or ceiling. Easy to buy extra fixings and put them closer together to be sure they're fixed to the wall very sturdily, which is what I'll be doing with the next one I'm going to install that will need to go into a ceiling.

I'm not keen on poles and eyelets anyway, they create extra unnecessary friction which just adds to the strength needed in the wall fixings, let alone the user effort needed to open and close the curtains each time.

I've used quite old, brittle plastic hooks to attach my heaviest curtains to my highest, bendiest curtain track, as it means that if there's any funny pulling or stress on the curtains then the hooks snap rather than the track being pulled too hard. Annoying to replace the hooks, rather than expensive and a massive hassle to repair/replace the curtain/track.

These are what I'm on about, plenty on ebay I promise I'm not a seller!

You need to ensure that the screws which are holding the brackets in place are long enough to go through the plaster on the ceiling and screw into the joists underneath the plaster.
Silicone curtain spray (Amazon) is your friend too as it will make the curtains glide along the pole without too much tugging.
Failing that, fit a wooden batten on the ceiling, paint it same colour as ceiling, and screw fixing brackets into that. Not quite as discrete as what you have now but should stay in place better.

We have a bay window and John Lewis are fitting the track and curtains this week. It was beyond us.