Bell Ringing

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

The bells across Britain (and Commonwealth, according to time zone) will be ringing at noon tomorrow.

They will be muffled, making a soft sound, except for the Tenor which will be half-muffled, to make an occasional bright dong.

They will remain muffled for 10 days until the funeral.

Viv

[Lucky Star]

I shall listen out for them. Thanks Viv.

[Katharine]

Thanks for the info Viv, I'll try and see if I can hear any.

[Courtenay]

It's nearly time and I'm listening out — I may just walk down closer to our local parish church, St Bartholomew's in Wilmslow, to find out if they'll be ringing there. I can normally hear the bells there from where I live, but I may not when they're muffled.

Edited to add: I did walk down and they were ringing just one bell at a time, alternating ringers when each one needed a rest. Mainly the tenor bell, but some of the less robust ringers rang one of the lighter bells. There was a book for visitors to sign and candles to light in memory of the Queen. A simple, solemn and fitting tribute from our local community.

[Katharine]

I'm glad you let us know about the bells Viv.

Unfortunately I had to work today, but I made a point of opening some windows at midday and taking a few moments of quietness to listen out for some, and I was rewarded with the distant sound of bell(s).

[dsr]

It's nearly time and I'm listening out — I may just walk down closer to our local parish church, St Bartholomew's in Wilmslow, to find out if they'll be ringing there. I can normally hear the bells there from where I live, but I may not when they're muffled.

Edited to add: I did walk down and they were ringing just one bell at a time, alternating ringers when each one needed a rest. Mainly the tenor bell, but some of the less robust ringers rang one of the lighter bells. There was a book for visitors to sign and candles to light in memory of the Queen. A simple, solemn and fitting tribute from our local community.

My Parish Church (coincidentally also called St Bartholomew's) in Colne had a book of remembrance and candles in the side chapel yesterday. They were ringing the bells at noon, but I didn't hear them.

I believe all towns/boroughs are reading the proclamation of the King sometime this weekend. Mine is at 4 pm tomorrow, so my mother and I will go down to hear it. She remembers the proclamation of Queen Elizabeth - she was in teacher training in Saffron Walden at the time.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

In the last week the flags of the UK (and I assume across the Commonwealth) have been up and down their flag-poles, with the fliers-of-flags trudging up and down narrow spiral stair cases to do their duty.

Spare a thought then, to the mufflers-of-bells, who have to squeeze into tight places in medieval towers to get access to the clappers to carry out their duties. Muffles are leather 'cups' that are firmly fixed to the clappers to dull the noise. When flags are at half-mast, bells should be muffled, and when flags are flying high then the bells ring out.

And so it was that our bells were fully muffled last Friday, apart from the tenor which was half-muffled. I had never rung fully-muffled before; at noon I was proud to ring our oldest bell cast in 1440 to mark the Great News. We thought they sounded lovely.

However, we were booked to ring for a wedding on Saturday – and the bride and groom didn’t fancy muffled bells. We were stood down. But then it was announced that whilst The Accession Council were doing their duties, flags were to be at full mast and bells could be un-muffled, and as luck had it, that was the hour of the wedding!

This afternoon I attended a practice in Bournemouth and to my surprise was asked to help muffle – I had only done it once as a training exercise. I swear that every muffle-maker has their own design. My own tower took delivery of a new set on the last practice before covid lock-down, and are affixed with industrial weight Velcro. The ones I was now faced with had leather straps, buckles and thongs, and to stop the things twisting out of position we applied copious amounts of electrical sticky tape.

Muffle fixing, I decided, was yet another of the Dark Arts of the Anglican church

Then a local ringer arrived with exciting news. Her son, who is a ringer at Westminster Abbey, has been chosen as a Peal ringer after the service. They expect to start at 1.15pm and it will take over three hours. However, they will need to be in the tower by 8.30 in the morning!

https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads ... a-peal.pdf

If they complete the peal, that is 5040 changes without making a mistake, the ringers’ names will be put on a Peal Board and hung in the ringing chamber of Westminster Abbey. No wonder she was an excited and proud mum!

https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about ... ster-abbey

I will send Pete photos of a pair of our leather muffles and them being affixed to our bells #3 and #4

[pete9012S]

Here we are:









My wife asks if you have any muffles for chatterbox husbands Viv!

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

My wife asks if you have any muffles for chatterbox husbands Viv!

A few choice words were muttered this afternoon trying to afix that muffle

nb - the last picture is #4 which I learnt to ring on as a teenager

[Courtenay]

Then a local ringer arrived with exciting news. Her son, who is a ringer at Westminster Abbey, has been chosen as a Peal ringer after the service. They expect to start at 1.15pm and it will take over three hours. However, they will need to be in the tower by 8.30 in the morning!

https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads ... a-peal.pdf

If they complete the peal, that is 5040 changes without making a mistake, the ringers’ names will be put on a Peal Board and hung in the ringing chamber of Westminster Abbey. No wonder she was an excited and proud mum!

https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about ... ster-abbey

Ooh wow! I've seen many Peal Boards in church towers (whenever there's a tour or the opportunity to climb to the top of a church tower, I'll take it, so one usually gets to see the ringing chamber and the bells up close) and I always wonder how the ringers manage to keep up their energy AND their concentration for a full peal with no mistakes. A great challenge, and what an honour to be chosen for it on an occasion like this!

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Here is a recording of Westminster Abbey ringing fully muffled, except the tenor which is half-muffled

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=78102 ... f=external

It is nigh on impossible to follow what changes the bells are making, but here it is obvious when the tenor is sounding at back-stroke.

A very loud clash of 30 cwt of resounding metal every 20 dongs

[Courtenay]

You can definitely hear that tenor bell! Fascinating to hear the rest of them, though, as I don't think I've ever heard muffled bells before, at least not all ringing in quick succession like that. To me, they sound a bit like an organ!

[Katharine]

Very interesting. I must admit I hadn't really given any thought as to how a bell could be muffled.

Sounds like bell ringers are a pretty dedicated bunch of people.

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Just in case anyone is tempted to learn bell-ringing, here is a thought… start in 2022 and become a ringer for the coronation of King Charles in 2023 !

Here is an excellent introductory video for would-be ringers. It is of a tower tour in the USA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5ZaF8jlhGs

This is one of the great things about ringing – where ever you go, if there is a bell tower, you immediately have a group of friendly locals to say ‘hello’ to!

As a hobby it is about moderate exercise, very sociable and very cheap! You don’t have to be a member of the church to do it.

You could just go along to your local practice night and introduce yourself, but I am a big fan of the Learning the Ropes scheme run by the Association of Ringing Teachers. It is run worldwide. Fill in this form and they will help you to find a teacher and (if possible) a tower with a practice night that will suit you.

http://ringingteachers.org/people/directory

Each county will also have its own Association or Guild of ringers.

Church bell-ringing worldwide

North America
https://www.nagcr.org/

Australia and New Zealand
https://www.anzab.org.au/

South Africa
https://sites.google.com/site/bellringi ... frica/home

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Here's an article about Ring for the King with a film from Ipswich

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-64718027