Watch video - Sleaford church bell rings for Notre Dame fire

A single bell tolled at St Denys’ Church on Thursday night in solidarity with Notre Dame Cathedral after it suffered a catastrophic fire last Monday.
Richard Spencer ringing the tenor bell at St Denys' Church, Sleaford on Thursday in support of Notre Dame Cathedral after its devastating fire.Richard Spencer ringing the tenor bell at St Denys' Church, Sleaford on Thursday in support of Notre Dame Cathedral after its devastating fire.
Richard Spencer ringing the tenor bell at St Denys' Church, Sleaford on Thursday in support of Notre Dame Cathedral after its devastating fire.

The half-muffled tenor bell was rung for seven minutes starting at 7pm - the time at which the fire was believed to have first been noticed.Rev Philip Johnson, Vicar of Sleaford explained he had made the arrangements in answer to an appeal for solidarity by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Prime Minister Theresa May.He elected to bring forward the traditional Maundy Thursday evening service so that parishioners would gather to hear the bell ringing and contemplate its significance before beginning the service immediately after the bell stopped.Sleaford’s church also has a significant link with the Parisian cathedral, explained Rev Johnson.“St Denys was the first Bishop of Paris and founded a church on an island in the Seine, the site of the Cathedral of Notre Dame,” he said.“Bells will be tolled in cathedrals and churches across the land at the same time to mark our solidarity with the church in France, but it will be especially poignant for us because the Patron Saint of Sleaford links us to Paris and Notre Dame.”He added that he had personal links too: “My wife was born in France and I have been to the cathedral many times - it is a place that I love.“One of my wife’s cousins was in the crowd singing hymns outside Notre Dame on the night of the fire and she lives in Paris.”

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