St PETER’S Church bell ringers in Petersfield rang out the bells to celebrate the visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, last Sunday week.

The Archbishop attended the church’s Sunday choral evensong service to conclude a three-day tour of the Diocese of Portsmouth.

And prior to the service, he was conducted to the bell tower door by the Rev Canon Will Hughes, vicar of St Peter’s, to listen to the bells.

A former tenth century Archbishop of Canterbury, St Dunstan, is the patron saint of bell ringers.

And Justin Welby is not the first visit by an Archbishop to St Peter’s either, as Desmond Tutu, the South African Archbishop and winner of the 1984 Nobell Peace Prize for his opposition to apartheid in South Africa, came to the church in 1988.

Peals were also dedicated to the Archbishop on Monday evening and Sunday morning.