All Saints Oakham was one of hundreds of churches around the world to ring its bells in solidarity with Notre Dame Cathedral this evening (Thurs).

The Paris landmark caught fire on Monday and was not fully extinguished until around 15 hours later. Most of the iconic building's roof, along with its spire, was destroyed in the blaze.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York asked cathedrals and churches across England to toll their bells for seven minutes at 7pm tonight as a mark of solidarity.

And Louis Totaro, All Saints' Tower Captain and Ringing Master of the Rutland Branch of Bell Ringers, orchestrated the local ringing.

He told Oakham Nub News tonight: "I was on holiday with my wife and family in Northumberland when I watched coverage of the cathedral going up in flames.

"From a bellringer's perspective my biggest worry was if the fire spread to the bell towers. There is a lot of metal and therefore considerable weight on the structure - if this became unstable it could have pulled everything down."

Louis said the Central Council of Church Bellringers announced on Tuesday that, if possible, bells should ring tonight - preferably at 7pm and with a minimum of a solitary bell for seven minutes.

"We have not been ringing at Oakham for a couple of months because there has been work to replace wooden louvres in the tower.

"But the scaffolding came off on Friday so I took the decision that we were good to go," explains Louis.

As Ringing Master of the Rutland Branch of Bell Ringers Louis had to contact 34 churches with ringing peels to encourage them to take part.

"There were a lot of phone calls and e-mails flying around, but I don't know yet who managed to get a band together. However it was important that Oakham set the standard.

"I am impressed we managed to get 10 of us to the church at such short notice and at 6.45pm we rang called changes and then tolled the tenor bell for seven minutes from 7pm, ending with some more called changes."

Photo 1: Regular bellringers at All Saints Oakham