Villagers fight to keep art of bell-ringing alive

For centuries the sound of bells has rung out across an English village, but residents say they are now fighting to keep the tradition alive.

Despite a lengthy restoration project on the bells at their local church, the people of Elmley Castle, Worcestershire, fear that without young people getting involved the art of bell-ringing will die out.

Some of the bells at the St Mary the Virgin Church date back to the 1400s, with volunteer bell-ringers gathering each Wednesday to hone their craft.

Among them is Sarah Bence, who said: "The ages we're missing are 20 to 40-year-olds particularly, so they're the ones we're trying to get involved the most."

"There is a massive push via the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers to recruit a target number of new people by 2030," Bence added.

Project manager of the restoration and bell-ringer Steve Bowley said that while the church had three new learners, they were still recruiting to bring in enough people to build a band.

"We've had lots of visitors wanting to have a go at ringing, and we've added special measures to make sure everyone is included, even those with disabilities," he said.

But for now, restoring the bells has at least lifted spirits in this corner of Worcestershire.

"It's amazing to see such a huge amount of apparatus being moved up there and at long last we have a beautiful, tuneful ring of bells," Bence said.

Work to restore the bells began in 2010, with the project receiving nearly £120,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The bells were installed on 11 May, with the new ring combining some of the church's historic bells - dating from 1420 to about 1948 - with four newly-made ones.

Bowley said the locals had been "quite surprised" by the bells' return.

"We've been told they are lovely," he said, adding: "It's been a long haul for this project but finally we've got it done."

The hope is the village can eventually go further and add another two bells to create a ring of eight.

"Whether that's in my lifetime, [and] I hope it will be, but that's what we'd love to see happen," Bowley said.

For now, the focus is on making sure the bells already hanging in the tower continue to be heard long into the future.

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