They were on a quick family visit back to Wales when they spotted their “perfect church” in a tiny rural village and immediately decided to hold their wedding there.

But having arranged with the church’s vicar to hold the wedding, Steve and fiancee Victoria were faced with a problem: the bells no longer worked. Not to be deterred, the couple spent the next three months travelling more than 300 miles from London and back every weekend to repair the church’s broken bells.

They found the belfry had been taken over by dozens of pigeons, the bells had seized and the bell ropes were ragged. The pair dug out almost a foot of pigeon droppings from the floor of the bell tower and brought in an expert to get the three bells back in working order and replace the ropes. And for the first time in more than 10 years, the bells at St Cynog’s church in Boughrood, near Hay-on-Wye, are working again.

Mr Edwards, 35, a project manager with Deutsche Bank, said: “It was a messy job but we were determined to get them working again. “They had not rung for some years but we thought our big day would be compete if we had traditional wedding bells.” Mr Edwards and Miss Hope, 26, a PA with Microsoft, first spied St Cynog’s parish church while on a weekend drive away from London to see her family in Rhondda.

The pair, who have been together for five years after meeting in a bar, fell in love with the 19th century church. Mr Edwards said: “It is perfect for us. The only problem was that the bells had been silent for some time after falling into disrepair. We asked the vicar if we could get them working again and he was delighted.”

The couple swapped their smart City suits for boiler suits and safety gear, and used high-pressures hoses and breathing apparatus to clean the belfry. They helped fix up netting to keep the pigeons out and freed the belfry’s seized pulleys. And they said it was the “sweetest sound of all” when the bells rang out after all their hard work.

Mr Edwards’ ushers will ring the bells when the pair are married at the church next April. But the pair are so thrilled with their results they are already regularly travelling from their home in Ealing on Sundays to attend services at the church.

Miss Hope said: “We feel very much part of the community now. Everyone has been very welcoming. “I’m delighted we’ve got the bells ringing again, not just for us but for other couples getting married there. “We just got on with the shovelling and cleaning over the weekends. It wasn’t the most pleasant of jobs. “But we felt a real sense of achievement when we heard the bells ringing out for the first time.”

---

Add this page to your favourite Social Bookmarking websites