A FUNDRAISING campaign has been launched by a Bournemouth church to allow its clock chimes to sound out across the community.

Holy Epiphany Church at Castle Lane West needs £2,000 to repair the mechanism.

The chimes rung out hourly from the Anglican Church since 1953.

Three years ago in partnership with the community, the church installed a silencing mechanism to prevent residents in the immediate vicinity from being kept awake at night.

However, recently the chimes have fallen completely silent and a fault has been identified in a different part of the electronic mechanism.

Rev David Thompson, priest in charge at Holy Epiphany, said the church had been quoted a minimum price of £2,000 to fix the issue.

“We have already had some donations from members of the community, but need support if we are going to be able to bring the chimes back to the area.

“Having rung out since the church was built in 1953, the clock chimes are a part of the local landscape.”

The church was built after the Second World War using money provided from the Diocese, who decided to use repair funds given from the loss of St Mary’s in Southampton to build Holy Epiphany as the Northbourne and Muscliffe area was earmarked for major housing development.

Currently the church provides a facility for a wide-range of community groups ranging from toddler classes to coffee mornings for the elderly.

Alongside the effort to bring back the clock chimes, Rev Thompson said there were two other fundraising projects at the forefront of the church’s efforts.

“The church is very active fundraising to do other things,” he said.

“It’s a central part of the community, not just a place of worship. We’re trying to raise funds to install a disabled toilet in the church so we can use the building more widely.

“The church hall, which was built in 1934, is used by all sorts of groups and we are aiming to carry out a number of improvements.”