BELLRINGERS from Fordingbridge struck the right notes and won instant appeal at a concert they gave residents and their families at a Bournemouth care home.

Six women from Fordingbridge Handbell Ringers played a tuned set of 12 bells at Colten Care’s Avon Cliff home.

Among the melodies were the Skye Boat Song and St Paul’s Steeple.

Conductor Viv Finch said: “We wear gloves to handle the bells so our hands don’t tarnish the metal. The more we have to clean them, the more they have to be tuned.”

The bells belong to St. Mary’s Church in Fordingbridge, where some originals cast as far back as 1894 are still kept. To keep them in pristine condition, the bells have to be periodically overhauled and tuned by campanology experts at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London.

The foundry, Britain’s oldest manufacturing company, was established in 1570 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was where both Big Ben and the American Liberty Bell were cast.

Colten Care activities co-ordinator Dawn Watson said: “We were all enchanted by the pitch, harmony and resonance of the sound.

“It was beautiful and really stops you in your tracks.”