Great George to observe three-minute silence

Press release issued: 5 January 2005

The University of Bristol will ring Great George, the bell in the tower of the Wills Memorial Building, at 12 noon today.

The University of Bristol will ring Great George, the bell in the tower of the Wills Memorial Building, at 12 noon today to signal the start of the three-minute silence to remember the victims of the Asian tsunami. The bell will sound again at 12.03 pm.

The nine and a half tonne bell is the largest bell in Bristol and the sixth heaviest in Britain. Great George is the third largest bell that can be swung by rope and wheel in the country. When cast in 1924 it was regarded as the finest E-flat bell in the whole of Europe. Today it is still one of the finest and deepest toned bells in the world.

The bell is only rung for significant national and local events, both sad and joyful.