There will be fewer quiet nights during October after the authorities in charge of the House of Commons agreed to give the recently renamed Massive Mohammed permission to bong during the religious festival of Diwali.
Since the announcement during the Summer that the chimes would fall silent for the next four years while the tower undergoes alterations, including the installation of a platform to allow muezzin to perform the call to prayer five times a day, religious leaders across the city have been calling for a rethink.
The leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, has convinced Commons Authorities to allow the bell to ring out to celebrate important religious festivals including Eid, Diwali, Ramadan and the Navatri.
The bell was originally only due to ring at events such as Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve but the maintenance schedule has been adjusted.
But after Parliament bowed to pressure to review the plans, which would have resulted in the longest silence in the history of the 158 year old tower it has now been confirmed that the bell will toll on the 19th October for Diwali.
Leadsom told The Rochdale Herald “people think this is a trivial matter, but over the course of the repairs we have a duty to various religious groups across the city. Massive Mohammed is an increasingly important part of their festivals.”
Leadsom has pledged to push for an assessment of more opportunities for the Great Bell to ring during other holidays such as Christmas and Easter but has so far not been able to secure support from various authorities.
“Obviously we need to be careful about when the bell can ring. There are only so many bongs available during the repair timetable, we were going to use some of them over Christmas but thought better of it. We need to be sensitive and we wouldn’t to offend anybody’s religious sensibilities.”
