Bell money pushes temple towards target

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THE county’s only Greek Orthodox Christian Temple is set to start ringing its bells next year having received two generous grants.

Money has come from Gloucestershire Historic Churches Trust and the Allchurches Trust owned by Ecclesiastical Insurance in addition to local Orthodox community financing and lots of smaller donations, the temple in Bentham, near Cheltenham is now half way to a funding goal.

The triple bell tower has been derelict for many years, at least since 1996, and has become dangerous as the bells could fall.

The committee of St John Chrysostom Greek Orthodox Parish have been urgently raising funds for the past year to fulfil their long-held desire to bring the bells back into use and are now in need of a further £5,000 in order to complete the project.

A spokesman for the church said: “It’s great to see the insurers putting more back into our buildings and the amazing support from our local heritage Trust – really putting their words into action to bring heritage buildings back to spiritual life.”