A 'BELLRINGING marathon' aims to hit the right note as bells ring out at ten different churches for hours this weekend to fund vital restoration work.

This Saturday, over 20 bellringers will ring church bells at 10 different Bredon Hill churches amounting to over 7.5 hours of continuous ringing.

Ten different methods (tunes) will be rung at each tower. A spokesperson for the organisers said: "It’s a bellringing marathon and we’re launching our £95,000 appeal for St Mary’s Church, Elmley Castle for the Bell Tower Restoration Appeal which has it’s early beginnings back in 2011."

Six local ringers will take part in a Quarter Peal Marathon around Bredon Hill in aid of the Elmley Castle Bell Tower Restoration Appeal.

The ringing will start at Ashton under Hill at 9am and will move round the hill clockwise before finishing at Elmley Castle at 8pm. Each ¼ peal can last up to 45 minutes of non-stop continuous ringing so all six ringers will ring for approximately 7.5 hours, only resting whilst travelling from A to B.

To help the six ringers (eight at Eckington), there will be a further 15 bellringers who will raise the bells in each tower in readiness for their colleagues and will ring the bells down at the end of each.

The churches involved are Ashton under Hill (Norwich Surprise Minor) at 9am; Beckford (Grandsire Doubles) at 10am; Overbury at 11.15am (St Simons Doubles); Kemerton at 12.30pm (St Clement College Bob Minor); Bredon (St Martins Bob Doubles) at 1.45pm; Bredons Norton at 3.30pm (Cambridge Surprise Minor); Eckington at 4.30pm (Grandsire Triples); Great Comberton at 5.45pm (Plain Bob Minor); Little Comberton at 6.45pm (Reverse Canterbury Pleasure Place Doubles); and Elmley Castle at 8pm (Plain Bob Doubles).

A spokesperson for the appeal said: "Sadly, the Elmley Castle bells are amongst the worst in Worcestershire and are difficult to ring; no longer melodic and out of tune, extremely heavy and awkward creating such a difficult challenge for any new bellringer. We fear that the bells will fall into disrepair and become silent if such a historic and beautiful church cannot house bells that suit its ecclesiastical importance.

"We need four new bells and a new steel bell frame to create the sound that St Mary’s has been without for many years, ensuring we can recruit future bell ringers with bells that ring out in perfect harmony befitting our beautiful and notoriously popular Elmley Castle. 

"The project will house the four grade II listed old bells, one of which dates back to 1420, high up in the belfry above the new ones. These historic bells will have chiming hammers fitted which will allow anyone to chime them easily and accessibly, especially at Christmas and New Year.

"Three new bells will be cast and joined by the bell that has sat in St Mary’s since 2011. This is an opportunity for you and your families to have inscriptions placed on these bells, helping to preserve historic artefacts for centuries to come. You will be in highly acclaimed company alongside the Savage family, who did so much for Elmley Castle, named on bells dated 1619 and 1620 and whose alabaster tomb is still today a revered memorial in St Mary’s."