Appeal launched to restore historic village church bells

A close-knit community is launching a £100,000 appeal to restore its village church bells - more than 100 years after they were last used.

Residents in Westhorpe have banded together to fix the five bells at St Margaret's Church.

The new bells will be given modern fittings and hung in a new frame lower in the church tower.

An additional bell is to be donated by the Keltek Trust, which helps churches acquire surplus and/or redundant bells to be hung for bell ringing.

The whole project is expected to cost around £100,000 and once completed will see the bells ringing for the first time since before the First World War.

Clive Mees, a resident of Westhorpe and also a bell ringer and the church treasurer, is leading the project with help from the Suffolk Guild of Ringers.

Clive said: "The proposal to restore the bells has been received with enormous enthusiasm and interest by the community of Westhorpe.

"This wonderful support is very encouraging.

"Westhorpe is a small village with important historical links to the Tudors.

"Mary Tudor, Queen of France, sister to Henry VIII lived here until her death in 1533 following her second marriage to the Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon.

"The bells ringing out would have been a familiar sound to her hence our project name 'A-peal for Mary Tudor'."

The project will also see a band of ringers recruited from Westhorpe and taught how to ring.

A number of 'outreach' activities to involve the community will be held as well, including the publication of a booklet on the history of the village, church and its bells.

Neal Dodge, The Suffolk Guild of Ringers’ Public Relations Officer, added: "We are very pleased to support this project which will see the bells of Westhorpe Church being brought back into use for the first time in several generations.

"It’s great the village has already shown such enthusiasm for the return of change ringing to their community as it’s such an integral part of English culture and life.

"This isn’t just about preserving the past but ensuring our living cultural heritage is secured for the future."

The oldest bell in St Margaret's Church was cast by Bury St Edmunds founder Roger Reve in the 15th century.

It would originally have been hung to celebrate events over the centuries, including the defeat of the Spanish Armada.