BOLTON bells rang out for a Bolton man's wedding - 10,000 miles from the town.

Richard Carlin was astounded to discover the church where he was to wed his Australian sweetheart Kathryn housed Bolton bells nearly 200-years-old.

The eight bells, made in 1806 to commemorate the victory of Trafalgar, hung in St George's Church, Bolton, until 1972 when they were sent over to Wangaratta Cathedral in Australia five years after they were last heard here.

And the dean of the cathedral believes Richard is the first ever Boltonian whose marriage in the church has been marked by the bells.

Richard, 25, who now lives in Melbourne but whose family still lives in Links Road, Harwood, had a whirlwind eight months romance with Kathryn.

The couple met last June when Kathryn was travelling around Europe and had got a job as a barmaid in Chelmsford, Essex, where Richard was working as an electronics engineer.

They decided to get married in Kathryn's home town of Wangaratta, 150 miles from Melbourne.

Coincidence

By an amazing coincidence, the couple discovered the history of the bells when they were discussing wedding arrangements with the dean of the cathedral.

Mum Pauline said: "The dean asked where he was from and he just said that it was a town near Manchester that he had probably never heard of.

"But then when he told him, the dean was so excited.

"He couldn't believe it. It was the first wedding he had done from someone from Bolton.

"He had the bells rung specially for him. Normally they are only sounded on big occasions.

"All the bell ringers wanted to meet him afterwards.

"Everyone was asking us lots of questions about St George's but unfortunately I didn't know much about it."

The historic bells were bought by the Aussies for 2,800 dollars - about £1,000 at today's exchange rates.

But they did not actually peal at Wangaratta Holy Trinity Cathedral until 1987, when the bell tower built to house them was completed.

Kathryn is from an isolated farm, whose nearest neighbours are 20 miles away.

And accountant Pauline discovered that Wangaratta, famous locally for tomatoes grown in the surrounding region, was very different from wet and windy Bolton in winter.

She said: "It was really hot. They said we'd got a nice cool day but it was still 35 degrees.

"It was so hot they did most of the wedding photographs INSIDE the church."

The couple went on honeymoon to a place called Eden on the Australian coast.

Kathryn is a student at Melbourne University and former Thornleigh College pupil Richard is now waiting for his work permit to be cleared by the Australian authorities.

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