Church bell row in Boland town
A row has broken out in a Boland town over the noise levels of its most famous church bells
TO MANY people the pealing of church bells is a reason for joy – a ringing reminder of their faith and spiritual home.
But for one family living in Paarl in the Western Cape there’s nothing joyous about the cacophony that prevents them from getting a good night’s sleep. And they’ve had enough. Now the battle of the bells has come to a jangling climax in this leafy town not far from Cape Town after the family’s complaint resulted in the famous bells of the Dutch Reformed church being muzzled.
Neighbours are fuming that Nico Serfontein and his wife, Sue, owners of The Doghouse Grooming Salon opposite the old church, have managed to get the bells silenced.
“I think we should hoot in protest every time we drive past,” someone grumbled on social media.
Others are keen to toyi-toyi and there’s also talk of a petition being raised.
In these parts, you dare not ask for whom the bells toll – or don’t toll. You might well end up with a thick ear.
Climbing up the 157 wooden steps of the steeple of Paarl’s historic Toringkerk makes you feel as if you’re caught in a time capsule.
The steps are thick with dust the higher you go but if you’re able to banish your fear of heights, the grand prize awaits at the top of the tower: five antique brass bells that were imported from England in the early 1900s, ready to ring out their peals to the world.
But these bells now hang forlorn and silent following the Serfonteins’ complaint.
“It’s very sad,” says Neels Visser, verger and church caretaker, darting up the stairs with impressive agility as he shows us around the premises.
“Look, that’s where we’ve had to muzzle it,” he says, pointing to the hulk of one of the bells, which is supposed to swing freely but instead rests on a scaffolding beam.
Four plates in the mechanism that set the chiming of the bells are tied together with thin wire while another wire restrains a lever of the mechanism.
When Nico and Sue moved to the area in 2012 the bells weren’t in operation as they needed to be repaired. In 2015 the job began in three phases, costing about R44 000 – and in September last year the bells were finally fixed and Paarl residents were again treated to the familiar booming of the old bells.
But the Serfonteins didn’t share in the delight: they struggled to sleep with the constant chimes and striking on the hour every hour and became so desperate they decided to take legal steps.
A week after the ringing resumed, a lawyer’s letter arrived at the church requesting a decibel-reading of the bells to determine if the noise level complied with municipal regulations.
Wanting to avoid discord, the church council stopped the bells again while they set about finding out if they were breaking any laws.
ALL they ever wanted was a good night’s rest, Nico says. “We don’t want the bells removed. We only want the sound tested to see whether it’s within the municipal regulations.” Nico says he’d probably never have bought his property if they’d known the
bells would be so loud – and the estate agent failed to point out that the bells might be fixed in future.
“We know it’s part of heritage and all that, but we only want to sleep at night,” Nico says again. “The whole issue is upsetting our family and we feel we’re being victimised.”
He says the municipality has tested the sound levels at the church but so far they haven’t received any feedback.
Others in the neighbourhood can’t see what all the fuss is about.
A young father of eight-month-old twins says he can “hardly hear the bells”.
He believes his late grandmother, who owned his house originally and lived there for 25 years, would’ve been immensely saddened to know the bells had been quelled.
EVERT (80) and Sylvia (78) Smith have lived near the tower for most of their lives. Sylvia was christened in the church, she and Evert got married there and all their children were christened there too. “What else bothers those people, I wonder,” Evert muses. “Aren’t they disturbed by the dogs’ barking in their cages at the dog salon? I walked past there the other day. The dogs do bark!”
Sylvia is struggling to understand their neighbours’ complaint. “What’s more beautiful than church bells ringing?” she says. “We two oldies aren’t disturbed by them at all.”
A policewoman who lives on the fourth floor of a block of flats near the church says she thinks the complaint is “ludicrous”.
“I hear everything and the church bells don’t disturb me. It was so beautiful when the bells used to ring. I always feel the bells are calling me to church.”
The church is 111 years old and the brass bells were manufactured by J Smith & Sons in London in 1906. When fully functional the bells ring every 15 minutes and strike on the hour.
With its 57m-high bell tower the building has the highest church steeple in South Africa and seats about 2 000 people. The floor plan of the church is in the shape of a crucifix and the pews are made of Egyptian oak.
Celebrities such as Springbok rugby players Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers were married here.
Although the Paarl community are hot under the collar about the situation the church council is trying to find middle ground.
Council chairperson Stefan Roux says it’s not their intention to keep the bells silent forever. They’re waiting for a detailed report from the municipality to confirm which part of the bell-ringing violates the regulations. “The only feedback we’ve received is the decibel limit during the day is 57, and we’re within the limit there, and at night it’s 47, which we exceed.”
They’re now being asked to make adjustments to the bells to slightly muffle their sound. Thereafter another sound test must be done and a report submitted to the municipality. But Stefan says before proceeding they need the municipality’s report to be sure which part of the ringing is too loud; what time of the day the readings were taken and what kind of testing was done.
“We’d like the bells to ring again but we want to comply with the regulations,” he explains. “We want to pursue good neighbourliness with the Serfonteins and don’t want to offend anyone.”
But the town’s heritage society takes a dimmer view. Len Raymond of the Drakenstein Heritage Foundation says his members aren’t happy. “The bells are part of the church and the church is part of the history of this town. What’s happening is ridiculous.”
The Drakenstein municipality says it’s been unable to give the church council a detailed report on the sound tests because the report contains personal information of the complainant.
“The municipality advises Toringkerk to appoint a noise and heritage specialist to suggest steps they can take not to breach the regulations,” municipal spokesperson Lauren Waring says. “It’s not the responsibility of the municipality to issue any instructions in this regard.”
‘The whole issue is upsetting our family; we feel victimised’