I was disappointed to hear of one of your readers displeasure (Letters 2nd March) of the noise that our church bells make.

When I first started our first priority was Sunday morning service and national occasions and always at weddings but never at funerals except for the mournful chiming every minute of the heaviest bell the tenor - curiously never refereed to as the bass bell. But attitudes change over the decades and the church keeps in touch by quite often ringing bells now for funerals as well, as a celebration of one’s life.

Bells can be a noise to some and also of great inspiration.

I remember some decades ago watching the TV as that wonderful BBC cricket commentator, the late Brian Johnston was describing the exit of Her Majesty The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh down the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral during the Jubilee celebrations.

The band was playing, the crowds cheering, the organ voluntary could still be heard and then when the glorious bells of the cathedral rang out and added to the cacophony of sound and noise he was so overcome with tears that he had to suspend his commentary for a few seconds - and then at the other end of the scale - who can forget when Princess Di’s cortege moved off in silence only to be broken by the wonderful sound of the slow half-muffled bells of Westminster Abbey. A truly breathtaking emotional moment.

But bells are not just for people coming to church and those who have no intention of coming to church - they’re for everyone in the hope you can walk out in to our wonderful countryside, and be thankful you don’t get blown to bits any second by a cruise missile!

David Ellery

An ardent campanologist since Easter Day 1957

Bridport