THE bells of St John’s Church in Porthmadog will ring for around three hours next month in memory of a former town bell ringer killed in the First World War.

Members of the North Wales Association of Church Bell Ringers will be attempting to ring a full peal — which must last at least 5,000 different changes — on Friday, 12 May, which is expected to take around three hours to complete.

The attempt has been organised to commemorate the centenary of the death of Idris Percy Thomas, a former bell ringer at St John’s.

Thomas was killed on 12 May 1917, when his ship, which was carrying supplies to Russia, was torpedoed off the coast of Norway.

At the time of his death, Thomas, who was born in Porthmadog to John Percy and Margaret Thomas, of Glyndwr, was 27 years old. He is known to have rung in at least two full peals at St John’s.

Ringing will commence at around 1pm and finish around 4pm.

Read the full story in this week’s Arfon/Dwyfor edition of the Cambrian News