The bells of St Laurence church in Alvechurch, Worcestershire date from 1711 and have been ringing across the village for over three hundred years. There are eight bells ranging in weight from 4 to 12 hundredweight (200 to 600 kg) and the ringers of St Laurence ring them in the traditional English pattern of Change Ringing.

Running Total January 12th 2012

The bells have survived three centuries but are showing signs of wear and we need to raise around £80,000 to fund repair and restoration work. We had to increase our original 2005 target of £60,000 as we learnt more about the details of the project. Six years' inflation and a rise in VAT have not helped either. These pages describe the problems we are facing, the work that we need to do, and the progress we're making towards raising the money.

Latest News

The restoration work has started. We rang the old bells for the last time on Christmas morning and in the days between Christmas and New Year a small team of ringers began removing all the small fittings from the tower. The bell hangers are due in January and we want them to come into a clean tower where they'll be able to go straight to the main task of lifting out the bells.

On January 12th and 13th 2012 we had a bell hanger from Whites on site and with his help a group of ringers took the bells and frame out of the tower. The bells stayed on display at the back of the church over the weekend and were then driven down to Whites and to the Whitechapel foundry.

Future Events

Now that we're close to our target we hope we'll be able to slow down and just run our regular fundraising events, the Sale and the Christmas Coffee Morning.

Table Top Sale - 12th April 2012

We'll be taking over the Ark again to sell books and bric-a-brac.

More details will be posted here and around the village closer to the date of each event and you'll find our events listed on www.wherecanwego.com.

Donations

We are offering our supporters the chance to sponsor a bell. You can read details and make an immediate donation on our sponsorship page or download our brochure with an application form.

Visit our donations page and help us towards our target. You can use your credit card on-line or print out a GiftAid form.

The Bell Fund is raising money on behalf of St Laurence Church. We are working under the following Bell Fund Terms of Reference.

Email us and help the St Laurence Bell Fund reach our target.