Belfry Gossip
3 Bells, 2 Bells, 1 Bell: If the Internet information is correct, Caldbeck has 3 bells, Castle Sowerby 2 and Sebergham has one. These are the three Lake District parishes from where our new Rector is moving. The Internet, and the ringers’ reference book, “Church Bells of Britain” unfortunately don’t recount whether the bells are ringable. They are here, Steve!
Induction and Institution: If you are coming to the service on May 27th, and we all hope for a welcoming full house, a small part of the service requires the new incumbent to ring one of the bells. It will be the treble (the lightest) and signifies to the parish the new Rector has taken over the living of St. Mary’s. But more importantly, count the number of “dongs”, as tradition has it, each dong signifies one year of his proposed tenure, - 10 dongs, 10 years at St. Mary’s.
Ringing Arrangements: These have been finalised and are as follows: immediately prior to the service, ringers will be welcome to join St. Mary’s ringers; on Sunday May 31st, a three hour peal will be attempted and on the following Sunday, St. Mary’s ringers will attempt a quarter peal, prior to the evening service. That’s a jolly good welcome to the Prior family. They may well receive one of our certificates, which commemorates ringing for any special event or anniversary.
Easter Ringing: On Good Friday morning, while the March of Witness was taking place, we successfully attempted a half-muffled quarter peal of Grandsire Triples. With the bells lowered, muffles off, they were ready for Easter ringing. We rang well for the Festival morning service of Holy Communion and in the evening, successfully rang a quarter of Yorkshire Surprise Major for the service of Easter Carols.
Quarter Peal Day: On Saturday April 18th as many ringers as possible from the Wellingborough and Rushden area (known as the Wellingborough Branch) attempted at least one quarter peal. Virtually all the churches with ringable bells were involved, including St. Mary’s. Often personal landmarks are achieved on these occasions e.g. 1st successful quarter, 1st time to ring a new method, the most quarters attempted in a day etc. The day concluded with members enjoying a drink and meal at a local hostelry – what better way to end an exhausting day?
St. George’s Day: The Archbishop of York, the Rt. Revd. John Sentamu, has joined a growing chorus calling for St. George’s Day to be made a public holiday. Although born in Uganda, he is an advocate of traditional English values and has suggested the occasion could help promote national unity and forge an “all embracing England”. London Mayor, Boris Johnson, promoted the event with a week of free events in the capital. Dr. Sentamu said, “Where there is no awareness of identity, there is a vacuum to be filled, often for extremist ideologists”. What’s this to do with ringing? All Diocesan bishops were contacted asking their views on the ringing of church bells on April 23rd. Sadly, only five were enthusiastic, with some of the excuses quite pathetic. At the time of compiling Gossip, we ourselves haven’t decided – but doubtful.
Six Bell Striking Competition: As of the middle of April, and for the past 12 months, we were the holders of the Diocesan Trophy for this competition. This year the competition was held towards the end of April at Bulwick Church. One of the plusses of these ringing competitions is to get into the countryside at this colourful time of the year. The results will be given in June’s edition of Grapevine.
Ringers’ Outing: This year we are venturing into Warwickshire once again, right at the end of May. Reflections later.