A WOMAN whose son was killed in Afghanistan has welcomed the public’s support to install a bell for repatriation ceremonies.

Lee Mackie, from Bampton, whose son Jason, 21, died in a bomb blast in 2009, said: “This whole thing just renews my faith in humanity.”

In the past month alone, about £9,000 has been raised to buy the £18,000 bell, which will stand opposite the memorial garden in Norton Way.

It will toll as the cortege approaches during repatriations from RAF Brize Norton.

The base took over the solemn duty from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire at the beginning of the month.

Mrs Mackie came up with the idea for the bell after watching ceremonies at Wootton Bassett, where people used to congregate to pay their respects.

She said: “I started thinking there is something in Wootton Bassett that is important and we needed to bring across, and suddenly I realised it was the bell.

“There is something about how everyone settled and came together as one when the bell tolled, and how the sound of the bell is so poignant.

“I just thought we have got nothing like that in Carterton and, to me, it is something that will make a huge different to the ceremony.”

She hopes the bell will be in place by the end of the year.

The memorial bell campaign received a boost earlier this month when Stephen Fry used website Twitter to give his support.

He linked to the memorial bell’s fundraising page and quoted a passage from Wilfred Owen’s poem Anthem for Doomed Youth.

The memorial bell will weigh 644lb and will be cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which cast Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament.

Three troops have been repatriated to RAF Brize Norton since September 1.

Mrs Mackie has watched the corteges return.

She said: “I know what their families were going through and it was really heartbreaking.

“We expect our family members to come home, meet us at Brize Norton and everyone is happy, but instead they come back and there is an acute sense of loss.

“But it is just so nice that, when your child or husband makes the ultimate sacrifice, people are prepared to come along and show their respect.”

She welcomed the work done in preparation for the reparations, including the memorial garden and the revamped Britannia Gate, through which the cortege leaves RAF Brize Norton.

But she said: “As far as I am concerned, as long as the human element is there – people there to support and pay their respects – not much can go wrong.”

To donate to the bell campaign, visit localgiving.com/memorialbellappeal