The tower captain and bellringer at St Teilos Church in Llantilio Pertholey is calling on the local community to join their small group of bellringers and preserve the tradition.
Gwyn Sayce has been a bellringer at St Teilos Church for almost 30 years and now wants to see young people getting involved before there aren't any ringers left; As older generations of bellringers die, young people aren't stepping in to fill their roles.
Gwyn said: “Its so important that we recruit new bellringers because for different reasons the current ringers are decreasing very quickly.
“I want some young people coming in, age 10 and above, giving it a go because without the youth getting involved, the tradition of bellringing could literally die.
“I encourage anybody to come along to one of our practises and I can show them the bells and tell them the basic rules.”
The group meet on a Thursday evening at 7:30pm until 9pm and Gwyn is inviting young people to come along and enjoy the hobby he is so passionate about.
He added: “I love everything to do with bellringing. It’s challenging but it is so rewarding.”
St Teilos Church’s newest recruit, 31-year-old Rachel Merritt from Govilon, started bellringing at the age of 20 and quickly fell in love with it.
She said: “Its really fun, deceptively so, and I just love it.
“My father is the tower captain at a church in Gloucestershire, his father was a tower captain and so was his father, so its kind of in my blood.
“I got dragged along one night to get me out of the house and I instantly loved it.
“I always thought it was just something boring dad did but when I actually had a go, I realised, its not as easy as it looks.
“I was a young 20-year-old girl who should have been going clubbing but all I wanted to do was go ringing.”
Watch the video above to see the bellringing squad at St Teilos in action and hear more from Gwyn and Rachel.