A GROUP of bell-ringers are in talks with Newton Abbot Town Council (NATC) to ring St Leonard’s Clock Tower on New Year’s Eve, it can be revealed.

This development comes after news broke that the iconic town landmark would not chime at midnight on December 31 as it requires repairs to its mechanism.

The specialist company NATC employ to maintain the clock’s mechanism, Smiths of Derby, cannot return to fix the issue until early January.

As such, it looked as though revellers who plan to gather at the base of St Leonard’s to see in the New Year would be without a peal of bells.

However, a local group of bell-ringers have expressed an interest and are in talks with NATC to ring the bells, the Mid-Devon Advertiser has been told.

It has yet to be confirmed, but the bells may ring after all!