Something missing in Altea, Costa Blanca

THE four bells at Altea’s Nuestra Señora del Consuelo parish church have been silenced until Easter. Parish priest Fr Jose Abellan explained that the deteriorated bells need restoring owing to the effects of the weather and, above all, to the salt in the sea breeze. The biggest of the four bells is cracked and must be recast, the priest explained, while the other three are all affected by rust and need restoring. It took an entire morning to remove the bells which will be restored by specialists in Torredonjimeno (Jaen). The bells date from 1943, 1948, 2000 and 2005 as the originals were destroyed during the Civil War although these were no older than the church itself, which was built at the beginning of the 20th century.