Big Ben to lead thousands of bells in ringing out to mark end of First World War

Big Ben is currently undergoing restoration work
PA Archive/PA Images
Tom Powell6 November 2018

Big Ben will lead bells around the world in ringing out on Sunday to mark 100 years since the end of the First World War.

Bellringers will join together in unison at 12.30 on Remembrance Sunday to celebrate the day guns fell silent after four years of fighting.

London’s iconic bell, Big Ben, did not ring throughout the war but finally chimed again on Armistice Day amid an outpouring of relief.

It has been reconnected during restoration work so that it can ring out at 11am on Remembrance Sunday, marking the moment the war ended.

This will be followed by the international bellringing, a joint campaign organised by the British and German governments.

As part of the initiative, 1,400 new bellringers have been recruited to honour the 1,400 who lost their lives during the war.

Bells will ring out from churches and cathedrals in cities, towns and villages across the country and around the world.

It is designed to not just symbolise the end of the First World War, but also as a conclusion to four years of centenary commemorations.

Big Ben's world-famous bongs were temporarily silenced in August last year for the safety of workers involved in a four-year restoration scheme.

The chimes are only being reactivated for special occasions until the work programme is completed.

Big Ben rang out again at around 8.30pm on Thursday to test the bell ahead of Remembrance Sunday and New Year's Eve. Labour MP Stephen Pound, who has led a backlash against the silencing of the bells, was in Parliament to hear the rare chimes.

The Ealing North MP, who wiped away a tear as Big Ben was muted last year, said: "Remembrance Sunday is a solemn occasion and the sonorous sound of the bells will certainly add to the sense of occasion.”

The Elizabeth Tower, home to the Great Clock and the Great Bell - known as Big Ben - is undergoing a complex programme of conservation works to safeguard it for generations to come.

Parliament's team of clock mechanics temporarily disconnected Big Ben and the quarter bells from the clock mechanism and lowered the weights to the base of the tower in order to provide a safe environment for the people working in the Elizabeth Tower.

A bespoke electric mechanism has been built to power the 200kg striking hammer in order to ensure the Great Bell can mark Remembrance Sunday and New Year's Eve.

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