Trinity bell installed at Town Church
A FORMER buoy bell will ring from the Town Church bell tower.
The 1946 Taylors-cast bell was installed yesterday and was watched by more than 25 spectators.
Tower captain and bell ringer Duncan Loweth said the new bell was being raised into the tower after yesterday’s short service and blessing.
‘This new addition has been over three years in the making,’ he said.
Church rector Matthew Barrett welcomed the installation of the new bell.
‘This bell will be used specifically to ring five minutes before a service, to let people know that service is about to begin as a call to prayer,’ he said.
‘Additionally, it is a reminder that everyone in the parish, regardless of their faith, is being prayed for.’
While the bell is new to the church, it is older than the existing bells, Mr Loweth said.
‘Our church bells were officially installed in 1995 to celebrate Liberation Day,’ he said.
‘We are very grateful to the charitable trust, Keltek Trust, who exist to rescue bells that have been made redundant, to be restored for church use.’
The origins of the bell are not entirely clear.
‘This new bell from Trinity House was for many years at sea on a buoy, likely off the south of England,’ Mr Loweth said.
‘It should sound really bright. Our biggest bell is enormous, weighing over a metric tonne, and this one is much smaller.’
A short blessing was given yesterday by Mr Barrett.
‘Performing a blessing is standard procedure when introducing significant items. The bell is anointed with the sign of the cross in oil,’ Mr Barrett said.
‘We have fittingly named the bell Trinity due to the donation by Trinity House.’
Collectively, Town Church now has nine church bells, known as the Liberation Bells.
‘All of our bells are tuned roughly to F sharp,’ Mr Loweth said.
‘Until now instead of a service bell we’ve been using a ringing bell on a D note.’
Trinity bell joins Freedom, Saviour, Hope, Vega, Promise, Michael, Liberty and Peter.
‘The two wheels either side of the Trinity bell are simulator bells, connected to a computer,’ Mr Loweth said.
The bell simulators were sprinkled with holy water additionally to the Trinity bell.
The bell ringers have been working hard to raise money for the new installations, which included running two escape rooms in the bell towers last year.
Rector’s warden Ruth Abernethy said it was great to see the new equipment going in.
‘Thank you to Duncan for all of his work organising this, we really appreciate his help,’ she said.
‘It’s so good to be welcomed into the church to the sound of the bells.
'It’s all very exciting too.
'If anybody is interested in a bell ringer scholarship then please get in touch with Duncan.’
