The historic bells of a Shropshire church are set to be restored after £70,000 was raised by a team of ringers.

Over the last few years the carillon mechanism that plays the famous tunes at St Laurence’s in Ludlow every day of the year has become unreliable.

A recent inspection has revealed that the hammers which strike the bells are not only beginning to fail but they are beyond repair and are damaging the historic bells.

The existing striking hammers are made of steel, which is too hard for the soft bronze bell metal meaning there could be a danger of the bells cracking.

The team of ringers who ring the bells on Sundays have raised nearly £70,000 which will be used to restore the bells which will be augmented with new bells to create a ring of ten.

This will mean that the bells will be lighter and children and young people will be able to learn to ring on them.

Pupils in year five from St Laurence’s School visited the tower recently and watched as one of the bells was rung into the up position and a team of six ringers demonstrated how the bells are rung each Sunday morning.

The bells will be removed in early December, before being taken to the famous London bell foundry at Whitechapel.

There they will be carefully inspected and tuned and the new bells cast to match the existing historic bells.

They will then be moved to Dorset where specialised bell engineers will prepare them for rehanging in the church.

The carillon mechanism will also be replaced so that they will ring their famous tunes for many years to come. They should be re-hung in time for Easter 2009.

Tower Captain Keith Goode said: “After many years’ hard work fundraising and negotiating with English Heritage we are so pleased that this project is going ahead.

“Our hope is that a new generation of ringers will be able to enjoy the famous bells as we have.”

Any one interested in learning to ring can contact tower captain Keith Goode on (01584) 879760.

By Rachael Lowe