Bells ring out after 50 years of silence

It was an historic mission to restore them, for the oldest bell in the tower was first installed centuries ago in 1672.
As far back as 1870, the Newbury Weekly News reported how parishioners had faithfully restored the belfry.
Our article at the time recorded how the newly-restored bells “rang out cheerfully from the old Norman tower and delighted the inhabitants as well as numerous visitors, who assembled from neighbouring parishes to honour the occasion”.
Then, in the 1960s, the bells fell silent.
The frame holding the bells in the tower had started to come loose from the stonework.
It was not until 2011 that a fundraising committee was formed and villager Alan Dawkins visited every house in the village to ask for donations towards restoration.
By August last year, they had raised more than £28,000. A grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund made up the remainder of the £55,000 needed.
In February, church bellhangers Whites of Appleton removed the bells after displaying them in the church for villagers, including youngsters from Great Shefford Pre-School, to admire them at close quarters.
The bells were then taken to Whites of Appleton’s foundry in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, where new head stocks and clappers were fitted.
Meanwhile, a new wheel was made for the tenor bell.
A party of villagers made the pilgrimage to the foundry to watch the work and check on progress.
It had been hoped to have the bells operational for the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations but the work overran.
However, by October the bells had been fully restored, retuned and returned to St Mary’s and work was completed on the frame and belltower.
The bells are now finally back in the tower and are being rung for Sunday services.
They also ring out between 7.30pm and 9pm on Wednesdays when the newly-formed Great Shefford bell ringing group practises. If you live in or around Great Shefford and you would like to learn to ring, email sheffordbells@gmail.com