Pembroke's bells set to ring again

After several years of fundraising, bellringers at St Mary's Church, Pembroke, have finally reached their target and an ambitious scheme to return the church bells to working order can now go ahead,

A grant of £154,000 by Pembrokeshire County Council from the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) was the final piece in the jigsaw.  

"The LUF will enable us to get the bells back up the tower and ringing again by the new year, if we keep up the hard work," Tower Captain Anne Bunker said. 

Bells have rung in the church of St. Mary since the 1760s but were allowed to get in a terrible state. Notoriously challenging to ring and out of tune, the bells needed significant work to save them and improve them to the standard the historic Norman tower deserves.

Future fundraising will now focus on bringing an old second bell, cast in 1784 and out of tune with the others, back to St Mary's to be a teaching bell.   

Two weeks of hard work with Bell Hanger Peter Hayward and a team of volunteers means the three replacement floors are now ready for the bells to be returned.  Meanwhile, work is under way making the bell frame, casting headstocks, creating wheels and other new parts.