A Redemptorist Church in Limerick is appealing for people to train as bell ringers. The secretary of Mount St Alphonsus Bell Ringers Society, Mr Pat Hanley, is looking for people living in Limerick who would be available at weekends.
Mr Hanley, a bell ringer for 57 years, said: "If we could get two people every year for the next five years, we would have a new team enabling us to retain the art of bell ringing which goes back here to 1878. You don't want that art to die."
The society has 11 active ringers. "St Mary's Church of Ireland Cathedral bell ringers work hand-in-hand with us to keep the bells ringing for Sunday service, weddings and funerals, and I'm sure they would also welcome new blood.
"While it's nice to get in young people, they can be distracted by football matches or something good on TV on a Sunday which can leave us short.
"St Mary's bells go back further and they can call on nine or ten people all the time. By co-operating, that's the only way both towers will survive in the present day.
"Training a ringer is a slow process and it can take three to four months before a person can handle a bell with a team of ringers," Mr Hanley said.
Mount St Alphonsus is into its second set of bells. The first set of eight bells, cast by the J. Murphy Bell Foundry in Dublin, were erected in 1878.
They were donated by John Quinn, a tea merchant of Ellen Street, Limerick who also donated the high altar.
These were taken down in 1947 and sent back to Taylors of Loughborough in England to be recast into ten bells and one stationery bell for chiming purposes. They are considered one of the best ten-bell peals in these islands, if not in the world.
"There is great comradeship among bell ringers and we socialise together after practice. A bell ringer can go anywhere in the world and will be offered a ring," said Mr Hanley.
A history of the installation of the new bells in Mount St Alphonsus in 1947 is chronicled in the Limerick Leader of the time and can be read in the church entrance.
Anyone interested in bell ringing can contact the Redemptorist Monastery.