In the belfry of St Mary & St michael church, Trumpington, with Samantha Gorman, tower captian of the Trumpington society of bellringers and Vicar, Andy Chrich

EVERY church bell in Cambridgeshire will ring out in a three-minute chorus to celebrate the start of the Olympics next year.

In the belfry of St Mary & St Michael church with Samantha Gorman, tower captian of the Trumpington society of bellringers

The county will join the nationwide project All The Bells, when churches up and down the country are being encouraged to ring their bells for three minutes solid from 8am on July 27 – the time the Olympic torch begins its final journey from Hampton Court Palace, through London, to the Olympic Stadium.

The piece will be called Work No 1197 by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed – all the bells in the country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible.

Church bells in Cambridge including Great St Mary’s in the city centre, St Andrew’s, Chesterton, Our Lady and the English Martyrs, in Hills Road, and St Mary and St Michael church in Trumpington will take part.

Rev Andy Chrich, vicar of St Mary and St Michael, said: “I think our bell ringing team here are brilliant at marking special occasions, whether it is New Year or the jubilee.

“I believe it is an excellent idea to mark what’s going to be a fantastic couple of weeks for the whole country.”

Father Dick Healey, of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, said: “It is certainly a nice thing to do. Our bells are rung by the Ely Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers so we would have to see what they 
are doing.

“There are not too many bells in the city but there are a lot around the county.”

All The Bells wants all the bells in the country – hand bells, school bells, bells in pubs – to be rung.

The bell ringing was among the events discussed at a meeting about how the county is preparing for the Olympics.

Other events planned include a Street Games Neighbourhood Festival where different parts will vie for a place in the final on Parker’s Piece, the Cambridge Half Marathon, and a football Mini World Cup on Coldham’s Common.

Another project planned for Cambridge is Ring Round The World, where schoolchildren will learn five newly-written songs based on the five Olympic rings.