For many people, bell ringing and morris dancing are not top of the entertainment charts.

In an age dominated by computer games and the internet, there is often little time for traditional pastimes.

However, Stella Bianco is trying to restore the art of bell ringing as a popular mainstay of British culture.

Stella, 54, of Cowfold, near Horsham, has helped to complete a national Ringing in the Millennium project during the last six years.

The national initiative received £3 million funding from the Millennium Commission and Stella helped co-ordinate the distribution of bells to some of the grandest buildings in the United Kingdom.

They included Aberdeen Cathedral, Selby Abbey, in North Yorkshire, and Corfe Castle, in Dorset.

New bells were added to existing ones at Selby where the first bells in the tower date back almost to the last millennium celebrations.

Old bells, some of which had not rung for many years or even centuries, were restored to sound again in 150 towns around the UK.

Stella also helped with the arrangement of bells in Berwick-on-Tweed Town Hall in Northumberland. Other areas targeted were Wales and Cornwall.

Stella, one of two co-ordinators of the project, worked with Lin Foxhall, head of ancient history at Leicester University, on the scheme.

She said: "The project was to restore and augment bells. Some of them had been silent for more than 100 years."

Stella, a member of the Sussex County Association of Change Ringers, said there were also four Sussex churches which received cash for bells.

They were at Chiddingly, near Hailsham, at St Leonards, at Felpham, near Bognor and at Northchapel, near Petworth.

Stella said: "All the organisations that wanted bells had to apply to us and we had more than 500 applications and then they had to go away and raise 50 per cent of the total project cost.

"We disappointed 87 projects in the end which was very sad. We now have just one more project to complete in Liverpool.

"Bell ringing is part of our culture, just as morris dancing is. I think it is very important that these traditions continue."

Stella started bell ringing when she was 13 at Aldrington Church, in Hove, and has been hooked ever since.