IT is mission accomplished at Savernake's St Katherine's Church as their £40,000 appeal to refurbish their bells has been achieved in just a matter of months.

Just five months after the church team launched the appeal to repair the bells, which have been used non-stop for 150 years, the large sum has been raised, thanks to a number of private donations and grants.

Now that the funds have been raised, the bells, which showed serious signs of wear and tear and were deemed dangerous, have been shipped off to Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, where they will be refurbished and refitted before being restored by September at the latest.

Church warden Rosemary Cook said: "We are absolutely thrilled that we have raised this amount so quickly. We knew that the community was generous but we are stunned that we have got this much in a matter of months.

"We had intended to make lots of grant applications but in the end we did not need to as some many came to us and donated.

"We are pretty lucky also because the Whitechapel Bell Foundry is doing its last orders this year as it is closing down after hundreds of years, so it is quite special that our bells will be one of the last ones they work on.

"It will be wonderful when the bells return in working order."

The maintenance work to the church, which has a peal of five bells that were installed in the 1860's at the same time the church was built, includes replacing the wooden fittings, re-tuning the bells and checking the mechanisms and woodwork supporting it.

Team rector at the church, Michael McHugh, added: "This is just spectacular news. To think that we have raised this sum in such a short period time is just extraordinary.

"I cannot tell you how happy and how grateful that the repairs can now go ahead. They really needed to be improved and now that is possible.

"The community has been so supportive, we could not have done it without them."

There will be a special recommissioning service, led by the Bishop of Ramsbury, on September 17 at 11am to celebrate the return to working order of the bells.

"It should be a lovely way to celebrate their return, I am looking forward to it already," added Mrs Cook.

Some of the donators included the Pewsey Area Board, financial advisers St James' Place Wealth Management, property development company Delancey and Paul Nicholls Racing Ltd.