Just before Christmas we heard that we were successful in our bid for a grant to the Heritage Lottery Fund and we were awarded a grant of £33,700 which is 45% of our project costs.

This fantastic news means that the project is now fully funded.

Work commenced in January to dismantle the fittings, remove the wheels and clean the belfry ready for the lowering of the bells. This work was undertaken entirely by volunteers from the village and local bellringers. All went smoothly with no hitches, quite amazing considering nothing had been touched for decades!

The bells were lowered on February 19th and 20th. A steel beam provided by local company Delstar was laid across the top of the internal tower walls and this was used to secure the block and tackle which would lift the bells and lower them to the vestry floor. By the afternoon of Friday 20 February, all six bells had been lowered successfully, again due to the efforts of an entirely voluntary team. Members of the press visited and an article about the project appeared in the East Anglian Daily Times on 21 February, and in the Bury Free Press on 27 February.

The following  Monday at 9am, local haulier Neil Frost of Whitton & Frost arrived with a lorry ready to take the bells to the contractor's works at Nottingham where they were tuned and restored. Another fantastic effort by local helpers and Neil meant that the loading of the bells was achieved without any problem.

The weeks between the removal of the bells and the arrival on site of the contractor, Hayward Mills Associates were spent cleaning and preserving the old wooden bellframe.

Andrew Mills of Hayward Mills Associates (HMA) arrived on site in May and immediately began work installing the new steel frame lower down in the tower. Huge steel joists were hoisted into the tower and built into the tower walls. The restored bells were returned and were installed one by one, with the frame built around them. There was a great team of volunteers always on site to assist the bellhanger, not forgetting the wonderful lunches and constant supply of tea, coffee and cake. Later on the new bells arrived and were admired on the ground by members of the Ruffles family and children from the Primary School, as well as many others just passing by!

By the middle of July, the contractor had left the site and the volunteers were left to finish off the outstanding jobs such as cleaning, whitewashing, fitting handrails and trapdoor. The Suffolk Guild came to inspect and a test ring was carried out, largely to everyone's satisfaction but with a bit of tweaking left to be done.

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