A church in Wiltshire is urgently trying to raise £70,000 to save its bells.
St Michael and All Angels Church had its bells refurbished in 2023 for the King’s Coronation – but just three years later, their chimes have been halted.
The frame and bearings which hold the bells in place are worn out.
Prior to the Coronation, the bells had been silent for 16 years. Local bellringers from a nearby parish clubbed together to get them up and running three years ago, with “almost daily inspections”.
However, having lain dormant for decades, the bearings supporting the bells are not suitable for regular ringing.
"They need £65,000 to £70,000 spent on them to get them up to a condition where they will last 200 years,” local ringer Richard Metters told the BBC.
The team of five are trying to drum up donations.
Bell-ringing leader Debbie Marsh said “everybody is quite keen to hear the bells” after having only had CD recordings for weddings for many years.
She’s determined that future generations will hear them peal, saying: “[The sound] wafts across the Kennet Valley, they can all hear it, so it's lovely."