A FOREST bell-ringing team has been the most successful in the country in attracting new members for Armistice Day commemorations.

The tower at St Andrew’s Church in Alvington now has 17 members despite being formed less than a year ago.

Educational group the Big Ideas Company has been recording the new recruits for each tower.

Captain of the Alvington tower, Anne Wickham, said: “According to the Big Ideas Company we are the leading bell tower in the country with 17 new recruits to a previously empty tower. The nearest to us is 14.”

They will be ringing alongside towers across the country at 11am on Remembrance Sunday, at 12.30pm for the march past the cenotaph and at 7.05pm for the lighting of beacons.

The bells were also rung half muffled in tribute to the fallen at a remembrance concert at the church on Saturday (November 3) which featured the Forest of Dean Male Voice Choir.