Trivia and videos
Did You Know?
An elderly clergyman landed himself in trouble with the law in July 1940.
In the aftermath of the fall of France the Government had announced that the ringing of church bells would be the signal that the Germans had commenced an invasion, and any clergyman who tolled them in other circumstances could face prosecution for causing unnecessary alarm amongst the public. In July 1940, Magistrates in the town of Spilsby convicted the Rev. Robert Graham, the rector of Old Bolingbroke, on a charge of ringing his church bells before a service. In his defence the
69-year-old claimed he was not aware of the new law and had not heard about it on the wireless because he was deaf. This excuse did not impress the Magistrates however, and the Reverend Graham received a sentence of four weeks in jail. In October he successfully appealed against his conviction but by then he had already served 12 days behind bars.
Rounds, Striking and
Leading
Intro to methods
Call Changes
Call Changes
Plain Hunting- rope sight
Plain Bob Doubles
Plain Hunt Doubles
Grandsire Doubles
Plain Bob Minor
Breaking a Stay
A jerky video showing the
workings of a Hastings Stay.
We have Hastings stays at Old Bolingbroke.
How Bells Work
Lowering a bell
(Ringing a bell DOWN)
Raising a bell
(Ringing a bell UP)
Slow Motion Ringing
Note! The ringer's thumbs point to the floor at both Hand and Back Strokes.
Full Length Video
on the Art of
Bellringing
​
A light hearted guide to some common ringing terms
20/12/18 Sylvia asked me this evening for a break down of some of the terms she heard this evening while we were ringing. So here goes:
We start in ROUNDS. Rounds is where 6 bells attempt to ring in their natural order, lightest bell first, heaviest bell last. Our ringers do their best to deviate from this order and it falls to the captain to keep them in check. Sometimes it works.
We may embark on some simple CALL CHANGES. This indicates that the Captain is getting bored with ROUNDS. He has decided to upset the apple cart by changing the previously simple order of ROUNDS to a fiendishly devious and apparently unfathomable system where two bells change their place in the order. The Captain will then communicate with the ringers using a combination of yells, semaphore and hieroglyphics to get the bells into the desired order.
To compound the confusion, the Captain may, once the ringers seem to have sorted out which bells they should now be following, call a further change in order to undermine any feeling of satisfaction that might be creeping in.
With a lot of luck and a following wind, we might find ourselves stumbling back into ROUNDS, the Captain will then shout 'STAND!'
STAND can be interpreted in either of two ways. It can mean 'I have had enough of this racket and I need to rest my ears', or alternatively 'I am bored with this. Let's change crew and try something different'.
Sometimes during ringing, the Captain may shout something like '5 closer to 4'. This instruction is to be ignored at all costs. The syncopated rhythm achieved by leaving a huge gap between the two aforementioned bells is most desirable, and is the trademark of ringing at Old Bolingbroke.
On the other hand, if two bells can be heard (only by the Captain) to be clashing by ringing at the same time, the Captain will shout 'WIDER!' This is an instruction for the two bells to separate to the satisfying syncopated wide gap Calypso rhythm mentioned above. This also has the benefit of testing the tenor's ability to suddenly have to ring much slower to compensate for the new gap. The tenor ringer is never happier than when he / she has to change pace all the time.
I hope this clarifies some of the mystique behind bell ringing and goes some way to demonstrate that this bell ringing lark is actually much easier than it looks.
Quarter Peal - 8/10/19
From a layperson's point of view
Yesterday morning I seized the opportunity to experience something I’m pretty sure not many people have experienced. I accompanied my dear friend, Bruce, to St. Michael’s church in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, to watch (and listen!) to him ringing the bells ahead of the Sunday service.
It was wonderful! First we climbed the steep, spiral, stone staircase to the bell tower. What a surprise! With mis-matched, colourful carpet tiles and comfortable arm chairs it was much plusher than I’d expected it to be. Bruce and his three ringing colleagues took up their positions and started to raise the bells to get them into the start position. The lead ringer (not sure of the technical term, sorry!) then started to call the ‘rounds’ (the sequence the bells were going to be rung in) and then started to call changes (saying commands in a loud, authoritative voice to change the sequence of the bells).
Picture the scene. One by one each ringer reached up to pull the fluffy, colourful part of their rope (the sally) downwards, causing their bell to start moving. Up shot each rope in turn, disappearing through a small hole in the ceiling of the bell tower! Each ringer was left reaching up to the ceiling holding the tail end of their rope. Next, again in sequence, each ringer pulled their rope’s tail end back down, causing their bell to move back to its starting position. And, in turn, each ringer caught their the sally. And it continued like that.
I found it strangely hypnotic. Each ringer seemed to be in their own ‘bubble’ – pulling down, reaching up, holding, pulling down, reaching up, holding. Ringing to their own rhythm, each ringer responsible for their own bell, their own sound. Doing their own thing. But in reality, they’re a collective. Bell ringing works, producing the joyful cacophony it does, because each ringer is listening closely to the other ringers – and to the caller. The sequence starts, then – at a command – ringers switch their order, which creates a totally different sound. This is very much a team activity, not a solo pursuit.