Shefford bells ring out once more

The rare event took place in a special service conducted by the Rev John Townend.
In December last year the bells’ sweet peal was heard once again after half a century 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. Grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Greenham Trust, the Sharpe Trust and the Oxford Diocesan Bell Ringers made up the remainder of the £55,000 needed.
Last 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.
There is now a team of new bell ringers in Great Shefford, taught over the last few months by John Hibbert, of East Ilsley, who attended the service with his wife, Jane.
Brian White, of Whites of Appleton - whose firm first worked on the bells in 1870 - also attended the service with his wife, Jane.
SIS Construction, of Great Shefford, who did the masonry repairs, was represented by Phil and Stuart Bichard.
Also present was Linden Langford, whose family has a long association with the church.
She is directly descended from one of the churchwardens of 1870 whose names are embossed on the three bells re-cast and installed at that time.
The bells are now being rung for Sunday services.
They also ring out between 7.30pm and 9pm on Wednesdays when the 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