Church Bells Will Chime For Albatross

At 1pm today, the bells of St Paul’s Cathedral and First Church of Otago will peal for half an hour to herald the arrival of the first adult Royal Albatross back to the breeding colony at Taiaroa Head.

It was previously announced the church bells would not ring as funding for the bell-ringers was unavailable.

However, an anonymous donor, a resident of Dunedin, has made arrangements for a donation to the First Church Bell Ringers group who are giving up their lunch break today to welcome home ‘Rob’ who arrived at the colony yesterday morning.

Robert Montgomery of St Paul’s Cathedral said today that the Cathedral’s bell-ringer will turn out, free of charge, for this occasion which is one of Dunedin’s favourite harbingers to spring.