Latest news with #bellringing
Telegraph
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
King's Coronation drives rise in young bell-ringers
The King's coronation has been credited with a surge in young bell-ringers. While the chimes of church bells have become a tradition across England, there were fears that the art of creating the nation's musical backdrop might die out. However, it appears King Charles's Coronation in May 2023 has inspired a new crop of youngsters across the country to take up the mantle. More than 300 campanologists took part in a bell-ringing contest on July 5 in the tower of St Martin in the Bull Ring, Birmingham. Ringing the 16 bells, each band performed an eight-minute piece and were judged on their striking by an expert panel at the Ringing World National Youth Contest. Originating in 16th-century England, change ringing sees bells rung by people in close co-ordination through a series of changing sequences that are determined by mathematical principles and executed according to learned patterns. Will Bosworth, editor of The Ringing World, said the event had been growing since its inception 14 years ago. He said: 'We had 37 teams with well over 300 ringers aged between eight and 18 ringing at various towers in Birmingham. 'Many youngsters were recruited to ' Ring for the King ' at the Coronation and have stayed involved.' He said ringing at the Bull Ring, which 'has more bells than any other tower in the country', is the 'equivalent to playing at Wembley. 'Everyone loved that experience,' he said: 'Bell-ringing is something anyone can do and we had a really diverse bunch of entrants from right across the country. 'It is a skill that requires concentration, physical effort and teamwork. It is competitive and promotes harmony in every sense of the word. 'Bell-ringing provides a sense of belonging, there is a strong social element and it keeps children away from their screens, which parents and school teachers really like.' The Yorkshire Tykes were judged to be the winners at this year's event, for the second time in a row. The retention of those recruited during Coronation ringing comes at a time of a campanology crisis for Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR), which represents those who ring bells in the English tradition with a rope and wheel. As a result, the CCCBR has set up the Ringing 2030 project to help recruit new ringers amid fears 'there won't be that many active ringers' in 20 years. In recent years, the number of officially recorded 'peals' – precise mathematical variations of 'changes', or striking sequences, rung on tuned church bells for up to four hours – has fallen by more than a quarter. In 2024, only 3,583 peals were performed, a sharp decline compared to 2014 when 4,791 were officially logged in The Ringing World, a weekly journal recording such data since 1911. Only the two World Wars and the Covid pandemic saw a more marked decrease.
BBC News
01-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Worcestershire church handed funding to replace bellringing ropes
A Worcestershire church has been given funding to replace its bellringing ropes. The ringing of the bells at St Mary's Church in Kempsey dates back to the 17th Century but the special ropes to help the dings dong are in need of County Council member Martin Allen has allocated £800 from the £10,000 pot that each councillor is allocated a year to support projects in their ward."I understand that the upkeep of such a worthwhile historic part of our history is not cheap, and I am delighted to have provided the funding to replace the worn-out ropes," he said. Mr Allen, Green, added: "It's important that traditions that make us what we are today continue."Tower captain at St Mary's Church Mike Harrison said: "Anyone who is interested in learning a new skill would be warmly welcome."Visitors with advanced notice can pop up the tower on Thursday evenings from 19:30 BST to watch a practice session or learn about how to join."We are currently fundraising for repairs and maintenance work to ensure their working operation for the next 100 years." Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
RNZ News
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
The 21-year-old gearing up for a bellringing marathon
Dylan Thomas ringing bells at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, 2020. Photo: Lisa Doyle When you think of bellringing in an old cathedral, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn't today's youth - but here to flip the script is 21-year-old Dylan Thomas. Dylan is the Ringing Master at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul and he's gearing up to take part in a historic peal attempt next week to mark the end of Matariki. The peal, is basically a marathon of three and a half hours of non-stop bellringing, with each bell being struck over five thousand times. Dylan speaks with Paddy Gower about his hopes of keeping the tradition of bell-ringing alive.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A new start after 60: My voice went and suddenly part of me was missing – then I discovered bellringing
One sunny August evening, Jean Walters was sitting in her garden in Meltham, West Yorkshire, when the church bells began to ring. She sipped her glass of wine; the evening seemed idyllic. 'A quintessential English country garden,' she thought, and posted on Facebook: 'Bells ringing, how lovely!' The next day when the plumber came to fix her toilet, more prosaically, he mentioned that he had seen her post, and being a bellringer himself, gave her the number of the local church's tower captain. 'He said, 'Come along and try it.' I did. I loved it. I said to my husband, 'Did you hear that single bong? That was me.'' Walters was 67 when she first climbed the tower at St Bartholomew's in Meltham. 'And I knew immediately it was something that I could develop and would be good for me.' Just before her 70th birthday, she rang her first quarter peal – nonstop ringing without a mistake for 45 minutes – and earned her badge to become a full member of the Yorkshire bellringers' association. Walters is 80 now, and to celebrate her milestone birthday, she rang eight different 'methods' – as the pattern that determines ringing position is called – one for each decade. From the start, she says, 'I just loved the idea that I was making this big noise in Meltham.' Making a noise was something Walters had always done, as a lifelong singer and member of choirs, and as a primary school teacher. Initially a top soprano, she later 'went down to a contralto', but continued to sing for the Huddersfield Choral Society, auditioning every three years to keep her place. Then, a few months before she heard the bells in her garden, three decades of teaching caught up with her and her voice went. 'It just packed up,' she says. 'Suddenly there was this part of me missing.' She sometimes speaks with a croaky edge, but the bells have given her a different voice. 'I just love the sound of bells,' she says. She first heard them aged five, from her bedroom in Tottenham, north London. Walters' mother was a housewife and her father a waiter. Every evening at 7pm, she would be sent to bed. 'And I'd hear the bells. To me it's the sound of comfort: going to sleep in my bedroom and being secure in my house.' Walters walks and gardens, but bellringing presents a different physical challenge. 'You have to control your bell: stand up straight, your arms up straight, then back down. It's a workout.' The longer the rope, the harder it is to ring. 'If I've got a bad back, a dose of bellringing straightens it out. After ringing, I feel exhilarated.' Her favourite bell weighs 5.5 hundredweight (280kg). Walters has congenital heart disease. At 18 she was told she had a tiny hole in her heart. At 58, feeling tired, she saw a specialist who informed her: 'You've got a grossly enlarged heart and you've got five holes in it.' She had open-heart surgery, lasting more than five hours. At the cardiac rehab classes, she remembers: 'There were all these older people who had had triple heart bypasses. I couldn't keep up. And I realised how unfit I was.' Ringing isn't only a test of strength, but a proof of it. 'I've always wanted challenges,' she says. 'But you're taught. They're very patient, the other bellringers. You don't have to be musical – just be able to count and have a sense of rhythm.' Learning the methods requires focus; ringing improves balance. And: 'It's social … You have a laugh, a chat, you ring the bells – and afterwards you go to the pub. 'It's a very close community. We go to other towers and help out for weddings. I can go anywhere in the world where they've got English bells and say, 'Hi, I'm a qualified bellringer' … I've rung bells in Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire and all over West Yorkshire.' After singing, bellringing became for Walters 'another way of expressing my joy of living'. When she can no longer do that, 'I know I will discover something else'. Not that she plans to stop. 'I'm aiming for 90. The thing about bellringers,' she says, 'is they accept you as you are.' Tell us: has your life taken a new direction after the age of 60?
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
A new start after 60: My voice went and suddenly part of me was missing – then I discovered bellringing
One sunny August evening, Jean Walters was sitting in her garden in Meltham, West Yorkshire, when the church bells began to ring. She sipped her glass of wine; the evening seemed idyllic. 'A quintessential English country garden,' she thought, and posted on Facebook: 'Bells ringing, how lovely!' The next day when the plumber came to fix her toilet, more prosaically, he mentioned that he had seen her post, and being a bellringer himself, gave her the number of the local church's tower captain. 'He said, 'Come along and try it.' I did. I loved it. I said to my husband, 'Did you hear that single bong? That was me.'' Walters was 67 when she first climbed the tower at St Bartholomew's in Meltham. 'And I knew immediately it was something that I could develop and would be good for me.' Just before her 70th birthday, she rang her first quarter peal – nonstop ringing without a mistake for 45 minutes – and earned her badge to become a full member of the Yorkshire bellringers' association. Walters is 80 now, and to celebrate her milestone birthday, she rang eight different 'methods' – as the pattern that determines ringing position is called – one for each decade. From the start, she says, 'I just loved the idea that I was making this big noise in Meltham.' Making a noise was something Walters had always done, as a lifelong singer and member of choirs, and as a primary school teacher. Initially a top soprano, she later 'went down to a contralto', but continued to sing for the Huddersfield Choral Society, auditioning every three years to keep her place. Then, a few months before she heard the bells in her garden, three decades of teaching caught up with her and her voice went. 'It just packed up,' she says. 'Suddenly there was this part of me missing.' She sometimes speaks with a croaky edge, but the bells have given her a different voice. 'I just love the sound of bells,' she says. She first heard them aged five, from her bedroom in Tottenham, north London. Walters' mother was a housewife and her father a waiter. Every evening at 7pm, she would be sent to bed. 'And I'd hear the bells. To me it's the sound of comfort: going to sleep in my bedroom and being secure in my house.' Walters walks and gardens, but bellringing presents a different physical challenge. 'You have to control your bell: stand up straight, your arms up straight, then back down. It's a workout.' The longer the rope, the harder it is to ring. 'If I've got a bad back, a dose of bellringing straightens it out. After ringing, I feel exhilarated.' Her favourite bell weighs 5.5 hundredweight (280kg). Walters has congenital heart disease. At 18 she was told she had a tiny hole in her heart. At 58, feeling tired, she saw a specialist who informed her: 'You've got a grossly enlarged heart and you've got five holes in it.' She had open-heart surgery, lasting more than five hours. At the cardiac rehab classes, she remembers: 'There were all these older people who had had triple heart bypasses. I couldn't keep up. And I realised how unfit I was.' Ringing isn't only a test of strength, but a proof of it. 'I've always wanted challenges,' she says. 'But you're taught. They're very patient, the other bellringers. You don't have to be musical – just be able to count and have a sense of rhythm.' Learning the methods requires focus; ringing improves balance. And: 'It's social … You have a laugh, a chat, you ring the bells – and afterwards you go to the pub. 'It's a very close community. We go to other towers and help out for weddings. I can go anywhere in the world where they've got English bells and say, 'Hi, I'm a qualified bellringer' … I've rung bells in Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire and all over West Yorkshire.' After singing, bellringing became for Walters 'another way of expressing my joy of living'. When she can no longer do that, 'I know I will discover something else'. Not that she plans to stop. 'I'm aiming for 90. The thing about bellringers,' she says, 'is they accept you as you are.' Tell us: has your life taken a new direction after the age of 60?
