New bells will ring the changes at St Anne's

ALDERNEY'S St Anne's Church has been given the go-ahead by Bailiwick church leaders to install the Channel Islands' first full peal of bells.

It was announced earlier this year that an anonymous donor had come forward to pay for six new bells to be cast and added to St Anne's Church's existing six-bell peal.

A very special 13th bell will also be added. The 15th century Sanctus Bell will be the oldest one in the Channel Islands. It was cast in Bury St Edmunds by Reginald Churche and donated by St Helen's Church in Ipswich.

Before installation work could begin, St Anne's Church first had to apply for formal permission from the Bailiwick Deanery.

Deanery officials visited the church last month and announced that they will support both the refurbishment of the existing bells and the addition of the new set.

The decision came after structural engineers Dorey Lyle & Ashman examined the tower and church building to see if they could bear the stress of seven additional bells. Their report was favourable.

St Anne's Church vicar the Rev. Stephen Masters and the churchwardens are putting £10,000 towards the refurbishment and retuning of the existing bells.

A sound-insulating floor and new sound-insulating shutters will also be fitted so that ringers can practise on proper bells, rather than using a simulation programme.

Alderney Shipping has offered to transfer the Sanctus Bell free of charge.

Peter Bevis, captain of the Alderney Bellringers, said other Channel Islands' parishes had expressed support for the additions to St Anne's peals.

'After extensive discussions with the States of Alderney, we are delighted that the project has now moved into the final phase with the publication of the faculty application,' he said. 'Taylors of Loughborough, who cast the original bells, have cast six more to match and we look forward to their installation in the near future. This has caused great excitement among ringers everywhere, but particularly in our neighbouring parishes. Vale ringers are in the process of augmenting their own bells and have been perhaps our most enthusiastic supporters.'

Anyone with any objections to the installation of the additional six bells, or the refurbishment, is asked to present them before the Ecclesiastical Court, constables' office, Lefebvre Street, St Peter Port, on 28 March at 9.30am.