The bell of a historic church is silent for the first time in almost two centuries - as over-enthusiastic bell ringers broke its old oak frame.

The crunch came at St Paul's Church, Manningham, as the bell belted out the old favourite "Hail Thou Everlasting Dawn" across the neighbourhood.

About 15 members of the congregation were ringing the bell to mark a festival when disaster occurred.

Now the church which was built in 1847 has launched an appeal for the £3,000 needed to mend it.

The vicar, the Reverend George Moffatt, pictured among the broken beams, said the old frame had not been replaced since the church was built and was now being refurbished.

He added: "People were very disappointed."

He said the bell rang out spelling unity alongside the traditional call to prayer in the area where many people are Muslim.

The church was built when Manningham was just a village by the well-known Hollings textile family.

It has a congregation of about 70 regulars, and schoolchildren who visit the church are also sometimes allowed into the belfry to ring the bell.

l The City Hall bells were silent for three years because the old oak frames were rotting and they had to be replaced with steel. The 13 bells are operated by a 20-year-old computer system which converts sheet music into a code which can be translated by the mechanism which tolls the bells.

Anyone wishing to contribute to a fund to get the bell at St Paul's Church tolling again can send a donation to Canon Ian Fletcher, Hon Treasurer, c/o 63 St Paul's Road, Manningham, Bradford BD8 7LS.