A parish council has caused an almighty ding-dong in a village by accusing the church of not ringing its bells often enough.

The bells at St Mary's Church in Pevensey stopped ringing almost five years ago.

As a result last year the local council refused to pay a £250 church grant because villagers were being starved of the sound of the bells tolling.

Despite pledges made last year to train bellringers to chime the centuries old bells on Sundays, the bells have not been heard since a Hailsham team was brought in to play on Christmas Eve 2006.

The parish council has said it will withhold the bellringing grant until the bells resume summoning worshippers to church each Sunday.

Regular ringing stopped at the oldest Norman church in England when members of the bell-ringing team were sacked from the belfry in May 2003 amid controversy.

The saga has rattled on since, with one villager even joking she would throw vicar the Reverend Gary Barrett into the village pond if the problem was not resolved.

Locals complain the only time they hear the church bells is when the ringers practise on a Tuesday night ñ and that even then it is muffled.

On Sundays they are greeted by the sound of silence coming from the historic place of worship, built in 1080.

Kevin Balsdon Wealden district councillor for Pevensey and Westham, said it was a case of childish playground silliness and should be resolved immediately.

He said: "It really is peculiar that this can drag on for five years. If a vicar is so wrapped up in playground games then I struggle with that.

"The last time we heard the bells was Christmas 2006 and it was beautiful. People left their homes to listen to the bells because it's such a rareity and it's such a beautiful sound."

He added that the parish council was holding taxpayers' money by not paying what it had agreed to spend, and as such, had a duty to hand it over.

"Someone has to offer an olive branch," he added.

Parish council clerk Alison Coode said: "We will reconsider our position when we hear the bells ringing. It's what the residents want."

Church warden David Wragg refused to reveal why certain members were dismissed five years ago but said it made regular bell-ringing impossible.

Before the 2003 sackings the parish council had agreed to pay a bell-ringing grant to the church.

That grant has never been paid despite the bells needing considerable repairs, which would cost thousands.

Instead the council said it needed to be able to hear the bells calling worshippers on Sundays before it would cough up.

In March last year Mr Wragg told The Argus the church had recruited a new team of bellringers who practised on Tuesdays and would play on Sundays. But yesterday he said they were still in training.

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