Residents in Litton Cheney have responded enthusiastically to the call to help repair their centuries-old church bells.

St Mary’s boasts a peal of eight bells but two – the sixth bell dating from 1656 and the eighth or tenor bell from 1470 – need major surgery.

The cost is likely to be around £20,000.

Since the call went out in July the bell fund has raised more than £14,000.

Restoration project manager John Salvetti said there was a great deal of support in the village for the restoration project.

He said: “It is unbelievable how generous people have been supporting the bells fund.

“Clearly from the numbers who attended our fundraising lunch and those how sent their apologies, the village of Litton Cheney loves its bells an wants to her them ringing for years to come.”

Nearly 100 people came to the fundraising lunch – the brainchild of Mary Anderson – which raised £1,433. She said: “My very personal ‘thank you’ to each and everyone who provided, contributed, cooked, helped and came to made the bell ringers’ fundraising lunch a success.

“In addition to more than £1,433 raised on the day, well-wishers and those who could not get to the lunch were generous in monetary donations and are adding to this sum.”

Now donations can be made online at the btplc.com/mydonate page under st mary’s or via the littoncheney.co.uk website. Two of the church bells, the seventh and eighth, are pre-Reformation and go back to before Henry VIII’s time.

The sixth bell was struck in 1656.

Tower captain Wendy Firrell said the eighth bell needs the most work as it is cracked and there is only one place in the country specialised enough to do it in Newmarket.

She continued: “We knew that our number six bell was cracked but it is beginning to get worse.

“The transport costs are huge and it is a major job getting bells out of the tower for a start, and the access to the church in Litton is not easy.”

“It is going to be a major thing but it is something that we have to do in the next three years otherwise our bells will become unringable which would be very sad.

“So that is why we are embarking on this project.”

The tenor bell is the heaviest at 13cwt, as well as the oldest, and always has to be removed if other bells need work, The sixth bell cracked because it is made of bronze but the headstock, which the bell is fixed to so it can swing, is cast iron.

They both expand and contract at different rates – a common problem for older bells.