City of London bell for New York

London, New York, September 9th 2002 (PROTEXT) - The LordMayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Oliver, willpresent a new Bell to New York on 11 September 2002.

The Lord Mayor commissioned the bell on behalf of the Cityand Corporation of London to commemorate the attacks on theWorld Trade Center on 11 September. London and New York'sfinancial districts are closely linked and many workers in bothcities deal with trans-Atlantic colleagues on a daily basis. Thebell also recognises the close links between the Church of StMary-le-Bow, Cheapside, in the City of London, and TrinityChurch, New York.

The Lord Mayor said: "I am immensely proud to be able to makethis gesture on behalf of the City of London and to mark thelinks that exist between our two communities. My visit is tooffer support to the citizens of New York and the USA. RudiGiuliani has spoken of the inspiration he drew from Churchill. Inturn, the support the American people gave to us in our darkesthours 60 years ago has never been forgotten."

The bell will be presented to the Rector of Trinity Church bythe Lord Mayor at a special service at Trinity Church. TheArchbishop of Canterbury will bless the bell and preach a sermonat the 11am service.

The inscription on the bell reads:

TO THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD AND IN RECOGNITION OF THEENDURING LINKS BETWEEN

THE CITY OF LONDON AND THE CITY OF NEW YORK

FORGED IN ADVERSITY 11 SEPTEMBER 2001

The bell was cast at the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry inthe heart of London. The foundry has been casting bells for morethan 400 years, including the original Bow Bells in 1738. Itcast the original ring of eight bells for Trinity Church in 1797and the original Liberty Bell.

For further information, please contact David Thompson on 0207332 1754, mobile 07881 628232, e-maildavid.thompson@corpoflondon.gov.uk out-of-hours e-maildavid.thompson28@virgin.net or Greg Williams on 020 7332 1455,mobile 07889 167205, e-mail greg.williams@corpoflondon.gov.uk

For further information about Whitechapel Bell Foundry,please contact Alan Hughes at the foundry on 020 7247 2599 orvisit the website at www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk

Trinity Wall Street is St Mary-le-Bow's sister church in NewYork. For more information, please visit the St Mary-le-Bowwebsite at www.stmarylebow.co.uk

Note to Editors

1) The 31-inch bell has been mounted on a stand designed byan eminent New York architect, Paul Byard. The bell will bemounted in the churchyard in such a way that it can be struck bya single clapper hung on the inside of the bell and operated byhand.

2) The City of London and the City of New York are sistercities with increasingly close ties at every level while thetrading, commercial, financial and social links between the Cityof London and the New York are centuries old.

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