Bellringing
THE DAY I FELL IN LOVE!
"On January 19th,
1989, I fell in love. It was instant and
all consuming. My friends rolled their
eyes; I could talk of nothing else. The
object of my passion was
It is a good few years
since my first passion but Bell Ringing is still one of the loves of my life
and I just cannot understand why others do not follow suit.
Most people do not
understand anything about Bell Ringing/Change Ringing and think it either
requires great strength or musical ability or tremendous dedication. Well, I am certainly not muscle man, nor are
any of my colleagues, and my children will assure you that my musical ability
is nil - they dread a record coming on that I might know the words to! Dedication - well, tremendous it isn't, but
the majority of Tuesdays between 7.30pm and 9.00pm and Sunday mornings between
10.00am and 10.45am will see me in the Bell Tower at Sherburn, Tuesdays for
practice and Sundays for Sunday Service.
I really do not like to miss either.
The act of ringing is a bit
like whirling a half-ton yo-yo thirty feet above your head whilst trying to
ring in tune to the bell music. It provides
both mental and physical exercise that is both intoxicating and addictive. It can be as sociable as you want it to be -
once you can ring a bell, you are welcome to join not only your own tower
practice night but any other tower, be it in this region or where you are on
holiday, or just on a day out.
There is always a sociable
side to Ringing and whether it is just the everyday chat in the
Ringers are always keen to
explain their craft to anyone who will listen, in the hope that they will
recruit a learner for their tower; for it is certainly a dying art and you
really cannot have too many members in a tower.
WHO CAN DO IT? - almost
anyone. You do not need to be strong as,
whilst the bell may weigh nearly a ton, it really does ring itself with you
just controlling it. Pru Fay was in her
50s when she started - we have pensioners in our tower band, and we have also
had many youngsters join in the past.
In Sherburn we are lucky
because there are eight bells in the tower, which means an ideal band would be
made up of between 16 and 24 people - we have just eight people, however. This means that if someone is ill or has
other commitments then we cannot ring a full band and sometimes there are
insufficient to ring for a Sunday Service - a very sad state of affairs, I
think you will agree.
You need no special
clothing - although as far as ladies are concerned trousers make the least
embarrassing apparel - no special tools as the bells are provided and the cost
in our tower is 10p per practice night.
You get to ring free for Sunday Service!
- and if you ring for a wedding, then you actually get paid.
All are welcome - no
appointment needed, just turn up on any Tuesday at 8.00pm in the
Hazel Calvert