A REINCARNATION of a 16th century band is performing to raise money for an historic church.

The Colchester Waits are putting on a fundraising concert for St Andrew’s Church in Earls Colne.

They are raising as much money as possible for the church’s bell restoration fund.

Trevor Beadle, 73, from Earls Colne, is the tower captain with the church bell-ringers.

He said: “We are trying to raise £60,000 to £70,000 to get the bells completely refurbished.

“They were installed about 150 years ago and have been rung continuously since then.

“There has been a bit of work done on the bearings, but it has got to the stage where we can’t tinker around the edges any more – it all needs to come out.

“They need re-tuning and putting back with new fittings and working parts.

“They can still be rung as is, but if something is not done within the next ten or 15 years, they will become an impossible set of bells to ring.

“We are trying to put on three fundraising events per year and have so far raised somewhere between £4,000 to £5,000, having just started in December.”

The upcoming concert will showcase the Colchester Waits.

Like most European towns, Colchester had a band of Waits, or civic musicians, throughout the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque periods.

They were employed to perform at civic ceremonies and processions to entertain the people.

The modern Colchester Waits were formed more than a decade ago and recreate what that town band would have been like.

The group play reproduction cornetts, bagpipes, recorders and fiddles.

They perform vibrant historical music with a sense of history, enthusiasm and fun, while wearing the livery of the 16th century town band.

Lizzie Gutteridge, 42, from Marks Tey, is a member of the band and a bell-ringer at St Andrew’s Church.

She said: “We perform twice monthly, and have a real mixture of people, from various musical backgrounds.

“It will be great to raise some money to hopefully get the bells back up to scratch.”

The concert is at St. Andrew’s Church on Sunday from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. Tickets are £10 (£8 under-18s) from colchesterearlymusic.org.uk or on the door.