Any campanologists on here3?

[jay hay-char]

This probably sounds like a slightly bizarre and random question, but when I was a teenager, I learned to ring church bells, which is not as simple as it sounds. I have to be honest and admit that the main reason for doing so was that I was at a single sex boarding school, and some local girls from the village used to come to the practice evenings at the parish church

I am vaguely thinking of taking it up again, as a way of getting myself out of the house occasionally, but I'm agnostic, which I guess may not go down too well with some churches, and I always found change-ringing a bit of a struggle, though I could manage some of the simpler stuff.

Does anybody else ring church bells? I'd be interested to hear of your experiences, since most of mine are, ahem, from a few years back....

 

[ellagy]

I don't see why you being agnostic would affect your ability to ring! Unless you wouldn't want to ring at some services! I tried to ring but my neck would not allow it Good luck.... I love to hear a change being rung!

 

[Daphne917]

Hi @jay hay-char I ring the bells at my village church on Sundays and practice most Wednesdays however we are struggling to get a band together now because there aren't too many of us now! I have rung a few quarter peals and Grandsire Doubles and Triples and Bob Doubles, Minor and Triples when I can but it's mostly call changes these days. I did manage to ring Stedman Doubles at one stage but have not so for a number of years!

 

[jay hay-char]

Hi @jay hay-char I ring the bells at my village church on Sundays and practice most Wednesdays however we are struggling to get a band together now because there aren't too many of us now! I have rung a few quarter peals and Grandsire Doubles and Triples and Bob Doubles, Minor and Triples when I can but it's mostly call changes these days. I did manage to ring Stedman Doubles at one stage but have not so for a number of years!

I used to do Bob Doubles and had a few dodgy attempts at Grandsire but I think I'd have go back and remind myself of the principles nowadays!

We rang a quarter peal to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the school I was at, which was hard work - I think I'd have struggled to manage a full peal. My "Local Church" is Winchester Cathedral and I suspect that standards there might be a bit high for me

Nice to hear that someone else on here is a campanologist.

 

[mist]

Next question. Any hunch backs that reside in Notre Dame?

 

[jay hay-char]

Next question. Any hunch backs that reside in Notre Dame?

I was there last May, but I didn't see any.

Mind you, it's pretty gloomy inside so I may have blinked and missed him....

 

[debrasue]

I used to do Bob Doubles and had a few dodgy attempts at Grandsire but I think I'd have go back and remind myself of the principles nowadays!

We rang a quarter peal to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the school I was at, which was hard work - I think I'd have struggled to manage a full peal. My "Local Church" is Winchester Cathedral and I suspect that standards there might be a bit high for me

Nice to hear that someone else on here is a campanologist.

I used to be a campanologist about 30 years ago. Sadly, nowadays I wouldn't be able to climb the stairs to the ringing room, but I used to thoroughly enjoy tugging on the sally, although I was only ever an amateur. None of our local band were practising Christians, but I think that most churches don't worry too much about that - they are just happy to get the bells rung regularly. We tended to worship enthusiastically at the altar of Mr Courages after a session!