THE CHURCH BELLS  The Church has eight bells with the last two bells added as recently as 1950. They are rung every Sunday morning before the service and for weddings and other notable occasions. Also, on Tuesday evenings the bell ringers spend an hour practising. The following extract below is taken from “The Valley of the Bride” by Canon Daniell, Rector of Litton Cheney in the summer of 1950. The parish church of St. Mary, stands in a commanding position. Its square stone tower, characteristic of Dorset churches, has stood the south-westerly gales of 500 years or more. Its six bells are mellow and well hung. Two of them are Pre-Reformation, which is an unusual possession. Legend holds that when Long Bredy was in low water, financially, Litton bought their bell! Happily there is no ill-feeling about it for it happened a long time ago. The Tenor and 5th bells were cast in Exeter about A.D. 1500 and so they were rung by the monks before the Reformation, and before Shakespeare was born. They have been rung down the centuries for victories, coronations, weddings, funerals and for daily worship. The Latin inscriptions on the Tenor Bell, the Mary Bell, may be translated thus - "Truly under heaven there is no sweeter bell than I", and on the 5th bell, the 'Peter' bell from Long Bredy, "JESÚS, His name is given in reverence ". The fourth bell was cast in 1656 and is inscribed with the name of the Churchwarden—"Andru Churchel ". Sir Winston Churchill, ancestor of Britain's greatest son came from Lyme Regis. Can Litton claim any link? We, at least, like to think so. In 1848 two bells were re-cast and a new one, the Treble, added, the gift of the Rector the Rev. James Cox. The Octave is to be completed this year by the gift of two bells, one in memory of a resident's son, Lieutenant Kenneth James Harper R.N., who gave his life in H. M. Submarine Thistle in 1940. The other in memory of Harry Ford Greening who was born and bred in Litton and loved his old Parish Church. Have you ever considered the message bells convey? To me our Octave will suggest—"The joy of the Lord is your strength” The captain of the tower will welcome any visiting ringer to' take a turn'. Wendy Taylor, the present Tower Captain says, “This is still true today, as we welcome beginners and the more experienced to our Tuesday night practices.” The Litton Cheney ringers are a mixture of ages and experience.  For those wishing to learn how to ring tuition is provided. Children can learn to ring as soon as they are strong enough to pull a bell. At the Thorner’s school services at the start and end of each term, four of the children welcome the rest to the service by chiming the four lightest bells under instruction from some of the regular bellringers.  As the Canon wrote more than 60 years ago, there is no ill-feeling over the transfer of the bell from Long Bredy to Litton Cheney but the story still resonates between the villages. Some things like bells never change. Another of our lady ringers Lesley Salvetti commented: “When I ring, I do sometimes think about the number of people over the centuries, who have rung the bell I am ringing. I feel I am taking my place in history.