A campaign is to be launched to restore the peal of bells at Christ Church on Julian Road in Bath, with a reception in the Mayor’s Parlour at the Guildhall on Tuesday.
The sound of church bells is a much loved part of the English soundscape, with church bells ringing in England since the 7th century.
But for many years there has been no regular ringing in the vicinity of Christ Church in the north of Bath.
Christ Church plays an active role in the community around Julian Road and has a strong musical tradition which continues to this day, but the once regular bell ringing gradually lessened after the First World War as the peal became too difficult to ring.
There is now an active project team working to see the bells restored to working order. A number of measures will be installed to control and direct the sound of the bells upwards, thus avoiding disturbance to the church’s neighbours.
A substantial sum of over £50,000 has already been raised and the team, lead by Ian Hay Davison, are now looking to the wider Bath community to help secure the remaining funds needed.
The appeal already has the support of many local and national champions including the Bishop of Taunton, the Mayor of Bath and chairman of the National Trust, Sir Simon Jenkins.
Journalist and broadcaster Bel Mooney, who lives in the city has also offered her support.
She said: “The great poet John Betjeman wrote that he was ‘summoned by bells’. To me there is nothing more beautiful than that sound echoing in city streets.
“Once the peal of Christ Church bells would have uplifted the hearts of countless Bath people each week. Let them ring out anew!”
Betjeman once worshipped at Christ Church and it’s said he would have been delighted to know that its bells will sound out across the Royal Crescent and the Circus once again.
Caroline Kay, Chief Executive of the Bath Preservation Trust said: “We are so often concerned about the visual appearance of our beautiful city that perhaps we neglect the protection of the historic soundscape. We fully support the efforts of Christ Church to rectify this.”
Further details of the project and ways to support the appeal can be found on the church website: www.christchurchbath.org.