A SPECIALLY cast bell which will serve as a memorial to the community spirit of Highampton during the foot and mouth crisis was rung for the first time last weekend.
Highampton farmer Marcus Vergette, who came up with the idea of a specially cast bell for the village, was on hand at Highampton Village Hall on Sunday (March 7) to hear the bell ring out in its new home.
Mr Vergette?s project was made possible thanks to a £5,000 cash grant from the Tarka Millennium Award scheme, the final such award.
Mr Vergette went to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London to see the bell being cast, and was able to bring it back to Devon once it had been tuned.
He decided that a bell would be a good memorial to the spirit of the community which found itself at the heart of the foot and mouth crisis.
Everyone within earshot of the bell was affected by foot and mouth and Mr Vergette said he was touched by the community spirit neighbour for neighbour.
A riddle written by Andy Brown, of Sheepwash, was inscribed on the bell:
My song is soft Appeal
To bring home Flock and Herd
My Feet in Earth
My Mouth in Sky.
The bell was rung at noon on Sunday by the captain of Church Bell Tower John Baker, and the Rev David Wood then blessed the bell.