O-STA

City of London bell for New York

London, New York, September 9th 2002 - The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Oliver, will present a new Bell to New York on 11 September 2002.

The Lord Mayor commissioned the bell on behalf of the City and Corporation of London to commemorate the attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September. London and New York�'s financial districts are closely linked and many workers in both cities deal with trans-Atlantic colleagues on a daily basis. The bell also recognises the close links between the Church of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, in the City of London, and Trinity Church, New York.

The Lord Mayor said: "I am immensely proud to be able to make this gesture on behalf of the City of London and to mark the links that exist between our two communities. My visit is to offer support to the citizens of New York and the USA. Rudi Giuliani has spoken of the inspiration he drew from Churchill. In turn, the support the American people gave to us in our darkest hours 60 years ago has never been forgotten."

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

The inscription on the bell reads:

TO THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD

AND IN RECOGNITION OF

THE ENDURING 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 in the heart of London. The foundry has been casting bells for more than 400 years, including the original Bow Bells in 1738. It cast the original ring of eight bells for Trinity Church in 1797 and the original Liberty Bell.

For further information, please contact David Thompson on 020 7332 1754, mobile 07881 628232, e-mail david.thompson@corpoflondon.gov.uk out-of-hours e-mail david.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 or visit the website at www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk

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

Note to Editors

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

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