A VILLAGE church bell team gathered to ring half-muffled bells in the lead up to Prince Philip’s funeral 12 miles away in Windsor.
Hurst tower captain Graham Slade of Woodley, who has rung at St Nicholas Church for 20 years, said last Saturday: “As a team we have been limited by Covid as to how much we could ring in the past year.
“Despite being out of practice it has been our honour to join with other ringers around the country to toll the bells as a mark of our respect for the Duke of Edinburgh. We have taken turns in keeping the tenor bell [the largest of Hurst’s eight bells] tolling.”
The church’s other bells were rung alongside the tolling tenor for 45 minutes up to the minute’s silence before the funeral service.
“The church’s bells have marked significant occasions over 100s of years. The oldest bell, the second biggest, was made in 1613. Not that many church bells in this country are a lot older,” he added.