Mum’s epic bell ringing session pulls in £10,000

Sponsored bell ring at St Peter's Church, Bexhill. Julie McDonnell and Roy Cox. SUS-151222-160716001

A mum has achieved an ‘impossible’ bell-ringing marathon, raising almost £10,000 for a life-saving charity.

The bells were ringing out across Bexhill on Sunday (December 27) when Julie McDonnell and her six fellow campanologists took part in the ‘barking mad’ challenge in aid of the Anthony Nolan Trust.

The complex challenge, branded ‘impossible’ by some of her fellow bell-ringers, involved up to 5,040 changes which Julie described as ‘an awful lot’.

Julie’s ding-dong marathon was only supposed to last for three hours, but owing to a couple of false starts, the ringing went on for almost four hours.

However Julie, from Hastings, and the team managed to complete the peal itself in under three hours.

What made Julie’s fundraising efforts even more remarkable is the fact she has been bell-ringing for just 14 months.

Julie regularly rings at her church in Brede.

However, the church only has six bells, and with eight required for the bell ringing marathon, St Peter’s Church in Bexhill was chosen as a more suitable venue.