Bell Ringing!
aka What I get up to on Wednesday nights…
This is also what I get up to on a Wednesday night and Sunday morning.
Quarter Peal
Okay, where do I start, I guess the date of my quarter peal would be useful. It was Sunday 30th December 2012, I had already rung for the morning service that day. The quarter peal was for our Vicar as it was his second to last service in Banwell before he moved to Dunster. You, Dunster parish are very lucky to have John as your Vicar.
Anyhow back to the quarter peal, we were to start at 14:30hrs and ring for 45 minutes. A quarter peal is when there is approximately over 1200 changes.
I have previously done 3 quarter peals on 6 bells but this turned out to be my first successful quarter peal on 8.
The method we rung was Grandsire Triples, I rang the treble (first bell) and I had to ensure I rang to 7th place and back for the full 45 minutes. This may sound easy but counting to 7 and back gets a bit repetitive, so I started thinking what a bell should do when a ‘bob’ or a ‘single’ is called.
My big disadvantage was I could see the clock behind the 3rd bell which meant I kept knowing how long we rang. It was torture my head would say ‘that’s 5 minutes’ … ‘that’s 1/3 rung’ … ‘15 minutes left to go’. Really not that useful to know when you are getting hot or a blister on your finger or scared you are going to mess up at the last.moment.
I am pleased I have rung a quarter peal on 8 but I am in no rush to do another one. Do not get me started on Peal’s, all I will say is crazy crazy people.
Special Occasions to ring
St Mary Magdalen, Berrow Church has 6 bells and 121/2cwt. On a very sunny day on the 5th July 2008 I had the great pleasure of competing in my first striking compertition. Unfortunately we did not do very well but I did not mind as I did not know what to expect.
I rang at this cosy tower in 21st June 2008. This is St Andrews Church in Compton Bishop that has 6 bells, which weighs 11-2-7. I have only rang here once and that was for the Tower Captains son. We rang at the beginning and the end of the wedding.
One thing went wrong at this wedding but it was nothing to do with the ringing. The thing that went wrong was the Pianist had the time wrong so the bride had to walk into the church with Morris music. Which in my opinion made it even more special for the bride and groom.
Quarter Peals
I have rang for two successful quarter peals since starting ringing, I am not an individual who would want to ring a full peal as that would mean standing still for 3 1/2 hours, whereas a quarter peal takes approx. 45mins more of my concentration span. Both of my quarter peals have been in Banwell Tower on the front six bells.
My first quarter peal was on 29th March 2009, where I trebled of Grandsire and Bob Doubles. I was so nervous when I rang this quarter peal I could feel myself shaking and throughout the whole process I was counting to fifth place and back.
Whereas my second quarter peal I rang the second bell of the front six to Plain Bob Doubles.This was much more comfortable as I was ringing a bell that had to do dodges and ensure I was in the correct place throughout. The only negative of this was that throughout the ringing I could see the clock and kept thinking come on how has only 5 minutes passed. :)
Happy reading and thank you.
Ringing in the New Year
I first rang in the New Year at the end of 2007. This was the magical experience I have ever had. My parents surprised me by turning up to Banwell Tower at 23:50 hrs to watch me ring the 4th Bell.
As I sit here I can still remember how I felt hearing the tenor dong twelve times before we all started ringing rounds. One of the fellow ringers called call changes and I could see that my mum had tears running down her face at how proud she was of me ringing.
I have been able to ring in every New Year since 2007 and last year I was in charge of the ringers. This is such a unique and wonderful experince to be in charge of a bunch of very established ringers. I kept it simple as we were ringing the 10 bells so I did call changes.
Happy reading and thank you.
First Wedding to ring for
Hello Tumblr World,
As you are well aware I started ringing in August 2007 and the first wedding I rang for was 24th November 2007. Believe me I was very nervous to not only be ringing for this wedding it was also my second time on ring all 10 bells.
I can thankfully say it went well and that I did not go wrong throughout the very long 20 minutes of call changes. :)
Happy reading and thank you
A little about me!
Hello Tumblr World,
This is my first ever blog so I am sorry if it does not flow easily as I tend to go on tangents.
Okay firstly my boyfriend planted an idea in my head, which unsurprisingly has now meant I have my first blog. As the title says a little about me, well here goes, I am 26 years old, I live in the UK and I am a very enthusiastic about campanology. Camponolgy means ringing of the bells being Church bells or hand bells. I have given hand bells a try but if you knew me. You would understand why it is not for me. So understandably I am a Churh bell ringer.
My local tower is in Banwell a lovely 10 bell 23tonn tower. I started ringing in August 2007. So that is a little about me, I am hoping to use my blogs as a source to talk about the towers, I have rung at and occasional include photos about these towers.
Happy reading and thank you.
