Tuesday, 29th July 2008 - 19:33CET
For whom the bells toll...
A Senglea resident has filed a judicial protest in which she complained about the “intolerable and unbearable” chimes let out by the clock in the parish church’s belfry every quarter of an hour.
Anna Spiteri argued that the sound levels of the chimes were illegal and excessive and that the installation of the clock was not covered by a necessary planning permit.
Ms Spiteri filed the protest, in the First Hall of the Civil Court, against the church’s Archpriest Joe Grech, Archbishop Paul Cremona, the chairman of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, the Environment Minister, and Joanna Drake as the head of representation of the European Commission. She explained that she had been living in Pope Benedict XV Street in Senglea for over 26 years. In 2000 the Senglea parish church installed a new clock in its belfry after it was received as a gift. But the chimes by the clock, every 15 minutes, were unbearable.
Ms Spiteri elaborated that she had appointed engineer Albert Sacco to examine the sound intensity of the chimes. He reported that the average sound levels in the Senglea square ought to be between 53 and 60 decibels. This was exceeded by 25 to 30 decibels whenever the clock struck.
Ms Spiteri said these sounds were causing irreparable damage to her as her residence was situated near the church and she worked from home. She added that she had taken up the matter with the parish priest and even with the Curia but this had yielded no results. In the protest Ms Spiteri argued that the loud chimes were in breach of the EU directive on noise levels according to which Malta ought to have established noise strategic maps by June last year.
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Comments
"any suggestion that these (chimes every quarter of an hour) cause any sort of damage both actual or perceived is utterly ridicules and only motivated by the reasons stated above".
"Anyone wishing to 'sanitize' our culture has no right to being called Maltese".
With egoistic neighbours like these, I'm sure glad I don't live in Senglea.
Let's say what you write is true, and that the new clock was not installed in 2000. Still, chiming the bells every quarter of an hour? A bit excessive, don't you think?
This however is a different case. Firstly with respect to what Ms. Spiteri is complaining about; she is unhappy with the CLOCK CHIMES - many people seem confused, she is not complaining about the sound of the traditional bells that have been there for I-don't-know-how-long, but about the clock chimes which were put in in the year 2000 (c 8 years does not count as ancestral heritage/tradition right?)
What could possibly be the harm in ringing them every hour instead of every quarter hour? Or just doing as she is requesting, simply making it less loud?
Heck if I had a favourite song which suddenly blasted out every 15 minutes even I'd get sick of it eventually
(So please before attacking this woman read the article properly)
The clock stands there from ages too, it was not used for a few years due to some fault it had…once repaired ( a few years ago)..it was back to normal….
Bells, or clock….either one…..Anna knew about them all her life, cause you see, she like me was brought up in Senglea….no need to say more !!!
Our church STANDS there for the past 51 years, and so do its’ BELLS…. So she was NOT there before the new bells.
She was there before the new bells. The least the curia could do is seek a compromise. How about not chiming every quarter of an hour for starters?
I spent part of my life living practically underneath a clock tower which chimes every fifteen minutes. By the second day of that stay I had already got used to its chiming and I didn't mind its tolling.
You're right ,you didn't mention fireworks, but thats just the moderator of this blog truncating my reply so you just got the end bit.
In my book growing up does not mean becoming petty,vexatious and intolerant.
Given the social problems in the area one would have thought that more serious things would have botherd Ms Spiteri.
Just because she has the right to sue doesnt necessarily make her right. Why not sue the numerous departing cruise liners saluting on departure? I'm sure a few decibels might have gone astray.
Incidentally I hold no brief for the church but neither do I have any axe to grind.
Life is too short to spend it being angry at frivolous things.
Its not a question of enlightment Joe. First of all one has to measure the religious & faith levels to relate & establish the relevant tolerance towards bells & their "message". I can explain quite simply : When someone who practises his faith like me hears bells ringing several different peals, instantly there's a mutual "communication" between the church & the message it sends out, for example during the so called "barka sagramentali" or the "sanctus" or perhaps before an important event (like when the patron saint emerges from inside the church on feast day), when all bells strike one after the other, from the smallest one till the bass bell strikes in, filling the area with beautiful merry sound. But on the other hand if someone who does not relate at all with churches (maybe you are one of them correct me if i'm wrong), faith & all associated matters, then its quite obvious that bells can be annoying to you. Malta is a country full of churches, whose belfries are filled with bells (our ancestors made huge sacrificies to pay for them at the time), & bells are there to be RUNG!!
@ Ivan Camilleri
"Anyway, there are a couple of more serious english language fatalities "
LOL... I mean ROFLMAO!!!
Ms. Spiteri is just demanding that the bells at most ring on the hour and not every 15mins. Secondly the noise level produced by these chimes are lowered to acceptable levels.
@ D Mangion: The mother nature sarcastic analogy was really stupid. I think if you could sue mother nature for damaging some of your appliances during a thunderstorm, I am sure you would do it.
....very soon we'll have someone who thinks that the festas are also intruding in their lives so they should stop and the fireworks are too colourful and the "pavaljuni" cover sunlight and pastizzi are unhealthy and so should be banned and partying is immoral and changing your "malja" on a beach with a towel around you is immoral and on and on..................until we find out that we live in a dead, boring country full of long, depressed faces with nothing that makes us maltese!!!
..........respect is very important....... but please can we calm down a bit!!!!!
I thank you for illuminating me.....i know it doesn't go in the last part of a sentence, but this is just an informal comment blog. People here express themselves even in the way they talk in the streets, & unfortunately "but" is sometimes used as "imma". Anyway, there are a couple of more serious english language fatalities which should have grabbed your attention......you, being a master in the english language. But at least you made your point.....albeit the one which really mattered ( i refer to the bell issue ) was relatively poor & deprived from any sense whatsoever!!!!!
To put things in perspective?
First of all I never implied or mentioned anything about the fireworks. So that is not my worry or concern.
Secondly and finally we as a nation lag behind another nations as we don't know how to call a spade a spade or rather are afraid to say and face the truth. We are simply afraid to speak or see the truth and rectify any wrong doings in the past. If one person expresses his/her truthful and honest opinion, what do we do?
Just because we don't agree with it, we, instead of understanding this opinion and then respecting it, we try to ridicule that same opinion. In other words we want to move forward but we prefer to stay status quo. An example? The difference that lies with Maltese laws to the European Union laws.
The lady has every single right to take the Church to court as the Church is not a monopoly, was but not anymore.
So I write again Ms.Spiteri is right and we have to grow up!
Share a banana!
The church should install a bell radio that transmits the chimes and anyone who wants to hear them just needs to tune in with a good pair of headphones. If the Maltese tradition is to revel in loud noises, I say that God needs none of this!
If the ringing of the church clock or the festa fireworks are the worst of your worries then we have indeed become a sad nation and need to put things into perspective.
I've had people complain about me and my friends because we used to play Hockey with roller blades in Lija and balzan and attard. Actually we practically always had someone complaining for so many different reasons. Banned from the lija park, kicked off the alley behind the church (when there was nothing going on...no mass), because sports are not allowed near the church . Even the safest streets we were yelled at to go away for the most rediculous reasons. And we never caused a lot of noise....if people complained about noise, we used to be more quite. But no, people wouldn't accept that, so our only choices were to either keep playing in dangerous areas where a lot of cars passed by, or not play at all.
Some people just complain for the sake of it.
And ivan, sorry but I cannot resist... Never end a sentence with 'but'... But is a conjunction, and it actually goes in the middle of a sentence, and never at the end.
People have a right to rest in their own home.
I am sure our benign, learned and smiling archbishop will find a solution.
I am sure this chiming clock can be regulated to a less roudy acclamation to the glory of God every 15mins, especially having been regaled in the year 2000.
Video following may start to give more interest during mass, albiet at an expense,and maybe keep people from drifting away in lesser numbers. So lets not kick ourselves in the ankle and alienate people through unnecessary and annoying behaviour. This may show, in my opinion, that the church in Malta, to be years back and dictatorial.
This lady should not have to go through a court saga to live in peace in her own home.
Dear Archbishop, please take note.
Can you please be so kind as to lessen up the sound of thunder during the months between October and February. You see...they cause irreparable damage to my ears, and surely exceed EU noise levels. They occasionally cause irreparable damage to my modem, my TV and some of my household appliances as well. This all goes against my fundemantal human rights to live in peace in the way that exactly pleases ME.
Am I asking too much ? Surely no ! So if you want me to keep on believing in you, please quiten up those damn thunderstorms. Please don't ignore my plea or I would have no option but to take you to court...even up to the EU court if need be.
The Curia and all other priestly periests and the Archbishop, should follow their BIBLE and be considerate to others.
What is most important for many is to show off my bell is louder than yours, my church is bigger than yours, my feast is more popular and what about the fireworks?
@ Victor Caruana: Are you serious?
Good luck Anna!!!
If this case is won, then certain people living in Hal Farrug could take MIA to court in order to stop the aircraft from passing low over their heads ! Yeah. Then the inhabitants of Ghajn Dwieli can do their part and claim that the Drydocks' siren sounding at 6:00am daily exceeds some decibels as well. Then all Malta can request the silencing of Petards! How about the last of the Pacevillians? They could maybe silence Paceville finally! And how about all of us requesting some financial kickback for the inconvenience caused by the noise of various construction projects all over the island ?
Then this island....which has the 3rd largest population density in the World, and the largest population density in the EU can finally become silent....like a cemetery.
Ha ha ha. Certain people should go to Australia, where the nearest neighbour could easily be some 20 KM away....but then they would start complaining about the nuisance of the Kangaroos...and will seek to exterminate them from Australia!
We have a wonderful Sapiano church clock that chimes every quarter hour, even at night. And then we (and all villages around, including Ghaxaq, Gudja, Mqabba, Qrendi, Siggiewi etc) have to put up with aircraft landing and taking off at all times of day and night. Should we close the airport down?
We got used to all this, and I don't know of Luqa residents going through 'intolerable and unbearable' suffering. Move elsewhere, dear lady, or emigrate.
Ms.Spiteri is right.
For those who provided the Maltese solution of telling her to install double glazed windows are way off the mark. A very silly solution indeed!
Why she should go to such an expence?
I could even suggest that the Curia would pay her for the expence involved.
Religion and anything that has to do with it are not above the law but wonder of wonders we seem to do that everytime.
We simply have to grow up.
What a nation!
Installing double glazed windows would be one solution but as long as the church pays from its coffers and not the sufferer. In any case, why should a clock tell you now it is 15 mins. past or to and now it is 15 mins past or to and now it is 15 mins past or to...It is driving me crazy even writing it!!!
@Mario de Bono & Joseph E. Briffa - Why should she go to the expense. just because you went through it, because you miss the bells doesn't mean that she has to do likewise. Also, petards are fired once a year or so not every day every 15mins. Nevertheless I disagree with the noise petards make - so your point is no point at all.
Maybe if she wins this protest the next will be to open a protest against the local council in order to install a do not disturb sign in her street in order that no body sound his horn or spek aloud!!!!
What about the fireworks during feast does she have any complaints because in the area there are a couple of feasts being celebrated and this happeaned from some decades ago .
one thing is strange for me... why sue Joanna Drake (as head of EC)? on what grounds? How could the European Commission know about the sound of those bells (unless she already reported to them), and it is not their duty to check what every church is doing!
Anyway however this judicial protest goes, if a lawyer is going to be representing her, he/she is set to gain some notoriety.
It works the same way as it works in a work environment according to EU rules : there is the peak allowable noise level (which is set so as to prevent hearing damage by short-term loud sounds) and the average allowable noise level (which is set much lower so as to avoid any harm by the repetitive exposure to noise).
On those grounds alone, I doubt she will get it right.
If you win, people will have the right to complain if the march band passes in front of your house, if fire-works do some noise once a year, and so on...
It.s true that we're part of EU (and Europe) but hands off our identity...
Was the equipment used adequatelly calibrated?
If yes by who?
Audio Engineer
... and justice for all. Good luck
Will you finance the double glazing or is it just paroli fil vojt.
he truth of the matter is that if the church is in breach of the noise levels they must not be above the (European) directives.
I assume you voted no to EU.....or is it just because a church not a disco that is involved???
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
(from Edgar Allan Poe's Poem - The Bells)
Long may the clock strike and the bells toll.
@therese ... isn't it amazing that some people here feel that a person should sell her house and move after 26 years of living there just because someone decided to install bells? i wonder how you'd feel if suddenly your neighbour did something and you had bells ringing every 15 minutes. Life is about compromise and balance... bells ringing every 15 minutes seem pretty extreme to me.
Ms.Spiteri may you loss at the courts.
Then even the people talking outside and the traffic will not bother you.
I suggest that Senglea residents present a contro protest.
Please do not be absurd!!!!!!!!
Curia authorities should not take this issue lightly and should defend strongly this case
It will be a great blow for the church if this case is lost because there will be no end not only to similar cases but other all kind of church activities.
hope you win this so as to set a precedent. Just because it pleases a few distant people does not mean all should have to bear it.
its about time that more people fight for their right instead of just sitting back and take it.
Next I suggest a group lawsuit all over Malta against excessivly noisey petards. The church should be doing something about those as well.
You know that you live in the noisiest part of Senglea with all sorts of cars passing by your residence every second.
And the noise of those people underneat your balcony talking loudly while having a cup of coffee and waiting for the bus to go to work since 4.30am. what you say about them?
Did Mr.Sacco took the sound levels of all the above, or these are NO Noises?
Take my advise, go and find a residence near the Gardjola, and leave the Clock Bells to do their duty.
If only they can tone down the decibels , and that they ring on the hour.