READER Joe Thornley tells me today is the 50th anniversary of the re-cast bells at St John's, Farnworth, and Kearsley Parish Church (as it was then known).

Fund raising began in the late 1940s to pay for the exercise and was not completed until 1954.

The largest bell, the Tenor, carries the inscription "Given by parishioners to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 1954."

Although obviously the Coronation had taken place in 1953, the funding had not been in place until a year later.

Joe, who lives in Bolton Road, Kearsley, was captain of the ring at the time and he tells me it was he who pushed the project through.