Church bells can now ring again and residents say they are delighted to hear the ding dongs after a long time.
On July 12 Chalfont St Peter’s Church bells rang again after nearly four months since the country went into lockdown.
Valerie Robbins who has been a bell ringer in the village for over 20 years said she was pleased to be back doing what she loves.
Speaking to ChalfontsNews she said: “I enjoy ringing the bells very much and for me it was upsetting not being able to do it for four months.
“Ringing the bells is also physical exercise as it keeps you straight and stretches your back and I missed that. I also missed the social side of it, so seeing my friends.
“I put up a post about it on Facebook and I was glad that many locals commented saying they enjoyed hearing the bells ring again.”
Due to the restrictions in place, only three bell ringers are allowed in instead of the usual six.
The local church has 11 ringers, the first three to ring were Valerie Robbins who is the treasurer and secretary; Steve Riddlington-White the tower captain and Gerry Diss the staple keeper, the other ringers will ring on subsequent Sunday’s’.
The Church of England agreed new social distancing rules for the services to be able to resume again.
Bell ringers have to wear masks, stand at least one metre apart and perform for no longer than 15 minutes at a time – but they don’t have to wear gloves as the ropes may become too slippery.
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