The Bells Restoration Appeal

The Bells – Again!
First, thanks to the author of the AOL article "The Bells, The Bells" for helping to increase awareness of the fund raising to keep Audlem bells ringable. All publicity is good publicity!

Second, the article says "it would be normal for the owners (of something requiring maintenance) to tell us how much they are able to contribute and what the actual shortfall is".

It is not the Church of England, which owns the bells, that has launched this appeal: it is the Audlem bell ringers, and they are themselves contributing. There have been donations of up to £2000 (plus Gift Aid) from individual ringers, and a larger donation from AbelSim Ltd, an Audlem company that sells ringing-related software. Around £20,000 has come from these sources so far, and the shortfall is around £50,000.

We the bell ringers have already started applying for grants from bodies which support such projects. One of these is Church Care, which is an organisation within the Church of England, and we expect a substantial sum from this source.

Given this information, hopefully "many more people (such as the author of the article) would be far more prepared to make a donation". As the article says!

Finally, I suggest that fund raising for the bells is not different from fund raising for maintenance of the Scout and Guide Hall, for the Public Hall Extension, or for the Turnpike Field. As the article says, the bells are a massive audible asset. Local assets are a local matter: though we will certainly apply for external grants, first we must get local donations.

This is the first time the ringers have asked for public contributions for at least 130 years!

John Vickers. Chairman ABRA.