HILLSDALE–With a little luck the sound of the carillon that rang out in the town center will ring again on Christmas Eve, according to Hillsdale United Methodist Church member Bette Gallup. The carillon just “quit,” Mrs. Gallup told The Columbia Paper. A repairman called to evaluate it, she said, told church members to “put it out of its misery.”
At the time, the church was in the process of putting on a new roof and not in a position to replace the bells. But a neighbor who missed the noon and 5 p.m. hymns offered to jump start a fund to replace it, she said. When the church set out to collect for the replacement, which is over $5,000, the response was “overwhelming.” One person told her that the carillon was something he “really liked, that made Hillsdale special.”
She hopes to be able to order the replacement in time for it to “ring out on Christmas Eve.”
People can still send donations–“$5 or $10 make people part of it, Mrs. Gallup said– to the church, Routes 22 and 23.