Published: 1 November, 2012
by PAVAN AMARA

SIX bells were named and blessed at a West Hampstead church at the weekend, so Camden’s “demons may be put to flight”.

St Mary’s, in Abbey Road, has added three new bells. Father Andrew Cain said: “We’ve been fundraising to get three new bells for four years, and now they’ve finally arrived.

“One of the original bells has been there since 1780, and the other two bells since 1870. The whole idea is that they call people to worship every Sunday, but they’re also part of our chiming clock.”

The older bells – which have now been named St Mary, St Cecilia, for the patron saint of music, and St James, in honour of resident and congregation member Jim Radcliffe – are joined by the new bells, St Edward, after Edward the Confessor, St Joan, for the French warrior saint, and St Alban, after England’s first Christian martyr.

The bells were blessed and consecrated by the Bishop of Edmonton the Right Rev Peter Wheatley.

“The whole idea is that the Bishop’s prayer blesses the bell and with its sound demons may be put to flight,” said Fr Andrew. “It protects from storms, and calls the faithful to prayer.”

Mayor of Camden Councillor Heather Johnson was in attendance along with about 60 members of the congregation.

“My sister is a bell ringer and quite recently she came to Camden to ring bells in three of the churches,” said Cllr Johnson.

“Now five churches in Camden have bells, so in the spring she’ll be coming back to ring, including at this church hopefully. Today’s service was beautiful.”