AFTER nearly 125 years of regular ringing, the three old bells of All Saints Church in Alton are no more. Last week a rather mournful three tolls on the tenor were struck to say a sad farewell. They will never be heard in Alton again. The good news is that the church has raised a staggering £70,000 to replace the bells with new ones. It has taken five years, but by the end of April, the new bells should be up and running. According to All Saints spokesman Reg Tripp, they are currently being crafted at Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the oldest continually operating manufacturing company in Britain. "Whitechapel Foundry has been in business non-stop since 1570. Not many companies in the world can boast of such a history. It should do a good job. The same team who took the old bells out will put the new bells in." The decision to replace the bells has been taken to address concerns over wear and tear, neglect, corrosion and pigeon damage, not only to the bells themselves but to the two tons of oak that was holding them in place. "As a result the bells had become rather painful to listen to (they were out of tune) but more importantly the belfry itself had become a dangerous place for bell ringers and for the congregation who walk beneath," explained Mr Tripp. Fortunately, it is not the end of the road for the All Saint oldies. "Old church bells rarely just pass away into scrap. They nearly always find another church in need of a joyful sound to bring new life to their parishes. And that is what will happen to these bells," said Mr Tripp. He added that the treble is bound for Horton, in Gloucestershire, where it will be used to convert a five bell tower into a six-bell tower. The middle bell has been bought by the Keltek Trust, a charity that helps to preserve England's heritage by recycling redundant and surplus church bells. "They will clean, retune and refurbish this one and then it will probably go to Otterham, in Cornwall, to form part of a ring of four in the major key," said Mr Tripp. "Incidentally this middle bell, which was the last to be hung in 1892, has a Latin inscription on it giving thanks to God from those who survived the influenza epidemic of 1891." The heaviest bell, the tenor in F sharp which weighs in at more than half a ton, was the first to be hung in 1882. This bell will go to Ennis Cathedral in County Clare in Ireland. Over several days last week the difficult and dangerous task of removing the bells and their heavy supporting oak frames was completed. Matthew Higby, the Managing Director of Matthew Higby & Co Ltd, professional church bell engineers, supervised but he could not have done the job without the help of local volunteers, Derek Shutler and Derek Whitham of the All Saints Bell Restoration Fund and Roger Barber from the Alton and Petersfield District Church Bell Ringers Association. "It took them all five or six days of continuous hard work, quite apart from all the preparation and then the cleaning up afterwards," said Mr Tripp. He has taken the opportunity to express grateful thanks to the "generous" donors "who have given their time and money to help raise such a huge sum in such a short time" to replace the bells. And to say a particular "thank you" to the Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines School of Music, the Newbury Building Society, the communications company Avaya and to thousands of individual donors. With special thanks going to Derek and Rosemary Shutler who were "the driving force" behind the appeal.
