October 2025

"Pembroke will get its heartbeat back” declared supporters inspecting the new floors in the Norman tower last week!

On 8th September Pembrokeshire County Council approved a grant to restore the bells. It is a tiny part of a successful Levelling Up Fund (LUF) bid of £10.5 million from Central Government, announced nearly two years ago, to improve the town of Pembroke. The contractor, Blyth & Co Ltd, Church Bell Specialists of Newark, have been looking after our bells since they were taken out in April 2024.   

The LUF will enable us to get the bells back up the tower and ringing again, by the new year, if we keep up the hard work.

Thank you everyone who has helped us get this far, by donating, volunteering, making lunches, being enthusiastic and supportive.

Any fundraising from now on will help us bring our old second bell (cast in 1784 and out of tune with the others) back to St Mary's to become a teaching bell.   

Blyth & Co were working in the tower when the good news came through. Two weeks of hard work with Peter and the volunteers means the three replacement floors are now ready for the bells to come back.  Blyth & Co are now busy making the bell frame, casting headstocks, creating wheels and all the other new parts.

Saving Pembroke’s Bells - June update

We’ve completed week one of two, following on from the work in February. Most of the upper floor that previously supported the bell frame is now down at ground level. Seeing the rusted beam ends is a scary reminder of why taking the bells out was an emergency! Huge lumps of rust crashed  down to the floor below as they were cut out.

With much physical effort, pockets have been made in the extremely hard limestone walls of the Grade 1 listed Norman tower. These will take the new steel beams for the middle floor where the bells will go. All the stone removed has been carefully winched into the vestry and is stored for future use in restoring the tower. 

Pembrokeshire County Council are drawing up a legal agreement back dated to 1 st April that will allow us to start restoring the bells with the money we have raised so far, while they sort out a conflict of interest in another part of the Levelling Up Fund for Pembroke. 

Prices are constantly rising and there are unforeseen expenses. We’ve just bought a light-weight triple section ladder for £175 to replace the tower’s very old bendy wooden one that was no longer fit for purpose (it probably hasn’t been for many years). If you would like to contribute to this extra

item, you can have your name on it! It will live permanently in the tower so we can reach everything to do with bells and tower fixtures.

Ask your friends to sign up to our updates, or join our regular donors via our website https://pembrokebellrestoration.wales

A mobile phone ringtone of the Pembroke Bells can be downloaded from the website.