Rochdale bells set to ring for the Olympic Games

Rochdale bells set to ring for the Olympic Games

Church bells across Rochdale will be ringing on Friday (27 July) to celebrate the start of the Olympic and Paralympic games held in London.

At 8.12am, 12 hours before the big event officially kicks off, churches throughout Rochdale and across the country will join in the ‘All The Bells’ campaign; ringing their bells in unison to see in the historic day.

The nationwide event, which is to be broadcast live on the BBC, also encourages people to join in themselves; ringing hand bells simultaneously to get into the spirit of the 2012 games.

Reverend Lars Ruden of Christ Church, Healey, said: “We’ve got six bells and they’ll all be ringing on Friday morning. We may get one or two phone calls from some surprised neighbours!

“We’re very excited about it. The weather forecast’s supposed to be brilliant and there’ll be lot of bells ringing in the area. I know that St. Bartholomew’s in Whitworth have eight bells they’ll be proudly ringing, too.”

Anyone can take part by ringing any kind of bell for three minutes - from experienced change ringing experts of tower bells to enthusiastic children with hand bells, bicycle bells and doorbells.

The sound of thousands of bells across the country ringing out at the same time to mark this historical moment will be a thrilling experience and a nationwide celebration.