Belfry Gossip

Late for Trafalgar: Admiral Nelson would not have forgiven us! Friday October 21^st dawned and we had planned our quarter peal commemorating the 200^th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar for a 10 15am. start. A ringer from Irchester had accepted our invitation to ring with us, provided a lift was available. The scheduled start time came and went, with one ringer missing. Hasty mobile phone calls were made, followed by a speedy dash to Irchester. We successfully completed the quarter of Yorkshire Surprise Major, but not without its moments. Many people commented on the good ringing but they must have missed the piece in the middle and again towards the end when there was a bit of a clatter. However after 45 minutes it rolled into rounds and we were home and dry – apologies Nelson.

400^th Anniversary: 2005 seems to be a year for special anniversaries. November 5^th saw the 400^th anniversary of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, when Guy Fawkes and his conspirators were foiled in their attempt to blow up Parliament. Instead of letting off some fireworks we dedicated our November 6th quarter peal to this event all those years ago.

Back to Ringing: Readers of last month’s Gossip will recall that one of our ringers experienced a very nasty road accident on the Newton Road. The police appear to know the culprits who seem to have "gone to ground" for the time being. The good news is that Barbara suddenly appeared in the ringing chamber before one of our evening quarter peal attempts. She looked and sounded in good shape and wanted to thank us for our various cards and flowers sent to her. Barbara is now back ringing with us and how good it is to welcome her back.

New Recruits: We are always on the lookout for anyone wishing to find out a little more about this ancient art of bell ringing. One of the interesting aspects of ringing is that everyone, no matter how long they have been ringing, is still learning. We are striving to learn new methods and we are always endeavouring to improve the striking of the bells, to make the sound of ringing more rhythmical and pleasant to listen to. Ringing provides a tremendous opportunity to exercise the mind as well as the body. In the average tower across the country, if there is such a one, you will find a very wide cross section of elderly and young, churchgoers and non-churchgoers, men and women, boys and girls. Ringing is a thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating art and for many centuries, church bells have proclaimed the message of the church to the cities, towns and villages across the land. Some leaflets we have produced about ringing at St. Mary’s are available on the church bookstall, do take one if you wish to know more.

Christmas Ringing: This important season is always a busy one for clergy, ringers, choristers and many others. The St. Mary’s tradition of attempting a quarter peal early on Christmas Eve will be continued this year, together with ringing twice for the Christmas Day services.

Tintinnabulum
www.stmarysringers.org.uk

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