Silsden Parish Church must raise £50,000 if it is to save its tower and bells.

An architect inspected the church five years ago and came up with a list of jobs which needed doing to keep the building in good order. But the church is faced with the decision on whether it raises £8,500 to repair the tower, or the £50,000 needed to save both tower and bells.

Much of the work has already been done, but the tower still needs re-pointing and the internal brick lining reinforced. Part of the porch over the tower basement steps also needs to be rebuilt with the cost estimated at around £8,500, and the timetable to carry out the work is almost up.

The church has also learned that it is not safe to ring the bells and there is deterioration of the bell mechanisms.

The Diocesan Advisor for Bells and an expert from a bell foundry visited the church to inspect the bells and the tower. They reported the only option was to move the entire mechanism down one storey. Some work would also have to be done on the bells themselves before they could be rung again, the report concluded.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is offering grants to restore church bells in time for a massive nationwide peel to mark the new millennium.

"We have got together all our information, particularly about grants from the Heritage Fund," says the Vicar of Silsden, the Rev John Cooper. "Even with the lottery funding you have to raise a significant amount yourselves. But we have to do the work on the tower whatever happens."

The Rev Cooper says the church has not decided which sum of money to go for. "Until we have all our facts together we will not be able to make a decision," he says.

"The bells haven't been used for some time because it has not been safe to do so. If the bells are rung it acts like a battering ram inside the tower, as one architect puts it."

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