Church bells ring again
Monday 15th October 2007, 6:22PM BST.
Three-hundred-year-old church bells on the Shropshire/Powys border rang out in celebration this weekend as the project to restore them was showcased to the public.
A host of people visited Llanfyllin on Saturday and yesterday for St Myllin’s Church open weekend.
As well as hoping to encourage new bell ringers, the event gave people the chance to see the six half-tonne bells all their glory and in full working order.
This year, the bells, founded by Abraham Rudhall, of Gloucester, in 1714, were removed from the church’s tower and taken to bell founder’s John Taylor’s of Loughborough to be restored.
A desperate plea was made by the church’s Bell Restoration Fund more than 18 months ago for the £31,000 needed to restore the bells. It was feared they would have to be scrapped following an inspection which rendered them useless.
But thanks to support and fundraising events organised by the group, £12,000 was raised and a further £20,000 was donated by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
And as well as people being able to admire the new bell fittings, they could see two films about the restoration and visit an exhibition about it in the church.
People were invited to have a go at bell ringing at a mobile belfry. The bells were also blessed by the Bishop of St Asaph the right Reverend John Davies and a benefaction board was unveiled detailing those who gave to the restoration fund.
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
This is an interesting and encouraging story, spoilt by the fact that your report fails to say how many bells are in the church. Were they all restored? Are there six bells or fewer? It’s the very first question a campanologist would ask.
Report abuse