The joyful sound of church bells was music to the ears of a Suffolk community after a long delay in returning the restored bells. The bells in St Peter and St Mary’s Church, Stowmarket, have undergone a major restoration project and also increased from eight to 10 bells. However, there was a three-year gap between the bells leaving and then returning due to the Covid pandemic.
The bells rung out yesterday (Sun 25 Feb) at a dedication service attended by the Rt Rev Dr Mike Harrison, Bishop of Dunwich.
Bishop Mike said: ‘‘Church bells are a rich part of England’s social landscape - ringing out to mark celebrations such as weddings or coronations, sounding dolefully for funerals or national mourning, and more ordinarily simply calling people to worship on a Sunday morning and at other times. So it’s a joy to bless the bells at Stowmarket church as they once again begin to sound out after work has been undertaken on them - and a joy too to welcome back that committed group of bellringers who ensure that we hear those bells at their tuneful best.’’
Tower Captain Winston Girling said: ‘‘We now have a superb and well-tuned ring which will last for many years and at least a century. The restoration was considered necessary prior to 2019 because of problems with the timber bell frame. This moved considerably when the bells were rung and we decided that we were close to stopping ringing altogether. It was clear that the 1984 bell frame was unable to deal with the forces produced by swinging the bells in full circles. The Parochial Church Council gave us permission to have the bells restored and we urgently started raising funds.
The bell hangers agreed that they would also remove the timber frame. When this was taken out it was very clear what the problems were. The integrity of the timber had been severely compromised by death watch beetle attack. Some of the beams were internally reduced to dust.’’
The restoration, funded by a National Lottery Heritage Fund, includes a steel frame to hang the bells.