Bells in Maltese village life

May I add another dimension to the contributions by Kenneth Cauchi and John Carmel Navarro (The Sunday Times, July 27)?

Without going into the merits of the Senglea and Balzan cases, I believe that the curbing of clock bells in our towns and villages will further contribute to the dehumanisation of the ambience of our localities and render the social texture of our village life poorer.

Most towns and villages have already suffered severely due to uncontrolled development, losing in the process those particular characteristics which used to distinguish them from other, even neighbouring, localities. On a different but more serious level, our society has experienced other, more severe, blows which touch its moral and spiritual fibre.

It is my fear that silencing our church clocks could be another symptom of the 'silencing' of the Church and its relegation to the periphery of Maltese social life.