BELLRINGERS at Highgate’s St Anne’s church will have no ropes to pull when they turn up to practise on Wednesdays – unless the parish’s restoration appeal can find £24,000 in the next 12 months.
The chimes that ring out across the parish on Sundays were mentioned by the poet laureate Sir John Betjeman, who wrote: “I felt summoned by the bells”. But the bells, hung in 1854, are worn out and need £40,000 spent on them, of which over half has yet to be raised.
And unless the church in Highgate West Hill, which is currently undergoing a restoration project which includes spending £350,000 on the roof, can raise the cash the bells in the sandstone coloured spire could fall silent for the last time.
Father Andrew Meldrum, the vicar for St Anne’s parish church based on Highgate West Hill, said: “Very little work has been done on them in the last 100 years. The restoration involves the bells being taken down from the tower and twisted 45 degrees so the hammer hits another spot.
“The bearings the bells swing on need to be changed.”
And now the church is seeking a philanthropist who likes St Anne’s peal to step in and help – and mimic the generosity of Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, the heir to the banking empire, who donated the eight bells when the church was first built.
They were originally forged for St Michael’s in Pond Square, but parishioners turned down the offer because they wanted an organ instead.
Father Meldrum added: “We would also like to soundproof an area in the church so our bell ringers can practise – without disturbing the neighbours too much.”