Two new bells will be hung in St Mary's church to commemorate the people of Witney who died during the Covid pandemic and to mark this historic time.
Funds are being raised for the casting of a Covid Commemoration Bell and a new Community Bell at the Grade-I listed church.
It's promised that some donors can even be part of the installation if they wish.
The Just Giving appeal launched by Witney Ringing Society, with the Oxford Diocesan Bell Fund, may also pay for essential maintenance for the existing eight bells and mechanisms.
Tower captain Andrew Goldthorpe said: "The bells were last re-hung in 1938 and nothing has been done except essential maintenance since then. Now the church needs a lot of money spent on it."
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Enormous sums have already been raised to maintain the fabric of St Mary's, but more is needed to replace the floor and central heating.
It means the bell fund, run entirely on donations from ringers, has become severely depleted.
"The cast iron frame and fittings are beginning to rust, the timber wheels and fittings are old and need re-furbishing, and the belfry would benefit from modernisation and weather proofing," said Mr Goldthorpe.
The UK's last working bell foundry Taylor's of Loughborough has quoted the cost of maintenance to the current peal, the casting and hanging of two new bells, and the modernisation work on the church clock and carillon at approximately £75,000.
The two new bells will cost around £12,000 each to be cast, tuned and hung.
If there are surplus funds, they will be used for improvements to the historic church clock and carillon, which were donated over 150 years ago but are now in need of modernisation.
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The bells were silenced during Covid due to the need for social distancing and some towers closed.
Mr Goldthorpe said: "We couldn't ring because we weren't allowed to stand shoulder to shoulder, even though Witney has one of the biggest and best ventilated towers, and people started to drift away.
"The bells are rung by volunteers in each village and now we've lost Standlake and Aston."
The 8-bell peal at Witney is one of the most historic and finest sounding in the area, with the oldest bell dating back to 1660.
The Witney and Woodstock branch of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Bell Ringers, the largest Guild in the world, has bell ringers aged from 10 to 100 who ring bells for Sunday service, teaching, and to mark special events.
In September 2018, the church and Witney residents celebrated the 775th anniversary of St Mary's re-dedication by King Henry II in 1243.
The King granted the people of Witney two deer from the Royal forest of Wychwood for an annual feast.
In 2018, a re-dedication peal was rung by a band of local bell ringers, and Wychwood Brewery produced a commemorative bottled beer.
It is possible to sponsor an entire bell with your own inscription, or to make a bell donation, and to witness the bells being cast.
Donors can also sponsor specific parts of the bells and assembly like the wheels or headstocks, or add an inscription.
Mr Goldthorpe said donating to the fund is "a wonderful way to memorialise a loved one".
"You will get a chance to commemorate family names that will be there for centuries," he said.
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/witney-bells
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