THE sound of church bells will return to a North-East community after a rare set of bells were restored.

The set of bells at St Oswald's Church in Hartlepool had stayed silent for several years when bell ringing in the town fell into decline.

They became more and more difficult to ring, as little maintenance was carried out since they were installed in the early 20th Century.

Now, thanks to fundraising efforts, and more bellringers being recruited, the bells will be rededicated by the Bishop of Durham at a ceremony in the church on Sunday, April 24.

The event will be supported by the Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Association of Church Bellringers, which helped fund the restoration.

St Oswald’s has ten bells in its tower which are 114 years old and were cast and installed by John Warner & Son in 1902. They are the only single ring of ten bells to be cast by Warner’s anywhere in the world.

In 2010 efforts began to attract more Hartlepool people to learn bellringing, and there are now about 30 in the town, with several youngsters under 20, including an 11-year-old.

Ringing now flourishes in the town with the support of the churches and Hartlepool Borough Council.

Andrew Frost, part of the St Oswald’s project team, said: “The bells are now completely restored with many new parts which makes ringing them a pleasure rather than the chore it was in the past.

“It is not often that bells are restored on such a scale, each having been removed from the frame on which they sit and then stripped down.”

"A service to rededicate bells is quite a rare event and everybody is excited that it is taking place in Hartlepool and that the Bishop of Durham has agreed to rededicate them.”