September 2012

Up here in the tower we are thrilled to bits with our newly  refurbished clappers; well actually we are thrilled with the difference they have made.  The bells sound more mellow, much sharper yet with a lovely “hum”.  They are also “swinging” more smoothly which is making handling them easier.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible – whether it be practical or financial – we are extremely grateful, let alone lucky, to have such support.

                                                                          Bellringer at work! 

The bell ringers did the recommended works up in the bell chamber themselves – we painted preservative on all the wooden wheels and, where needed, replaced all rusty screws, split pins and twiddle pins. We also followed the useful axiom ‘If it moves it should moves freely and if it doesn’t move it should be fixed firmly’ and loosened and tightened various bits and pieces appropriately!

The new clappers came back two weeks after having  been sent off and we spent, (I use the term “we” loosely actually as really it was 4 male ringers!), a day refitting the clappers. This is a much fiddlier job than you would imagine. It isn’t just a case of putting them in; you have to measure the distance from the central ball of the clapper to each side of the bell, constantly adjusting the fixings until the distance to each side is identical.  

 

                                                       Don't they look smart!

The first Sunday that the clapperswere away for repair Martin and Matthew had a go at ringing the Ellacombeapparatus which we still have installed. 

                                                            The Ellacombe Apparatus at Swanage

An Ellacombe apparatus is a method for performing ringing requiring only one person. Unlike the traditional method, where the bells are spun 360 degrees to sound them and one person is needed for each bell, the bells are kept static and a hammer is struck against the inside of the bell. Each hammer is connected by a rope to a fixed frame in the bell-ringing room shown above. The ropes are taut, and pulling one of the ropes towards the ‘ringer’ will strike the hammer against the bell.

The system was devised by Reverend Henry Thomas Ellacombe of Gloucestershire, who first had such a system installed in Bitton in 1821. It is believed he created the system to make bell-ringers redundant, so churches did not have to tolerate the behaviour of unruly bell-ringers just so they could have their bells expertly rung. 

As if we would be unruly!

August 2012

July was an extraordinarily busy month up here in the Tower;  five Sundays, two weddings, a Parish Fete, an Olympic Torch relay and the opening of  the Olympic Games all of which needed ringing for!  This was, without doubt, the busiest month I have known since I started ringing.

 At the Parish Fete we were asked to follow the same format as last year i.e. we rang for 15 minutes up the Fete opening time and then, having shut the shutters to deaden the noise, had the tower open for an hour.  However actually up in the tower we decided this year and to ring more for the visitors to watch and shorten the time each person had “having a go”.  This seemed to go down very well and we even got some rounds of applause!  One or two people expressed an interest in learning to ring so I am hoping we can start teaching some new recruits in the autumn.  Overall we managed to raise nearly £25 which meant that we had over 50 people come and visit us.

In the true tradition of  “ringing for events of national importance” six of us gathered up in the belfry on Friday 13^th July at 11.45am to ring a quarter peal for the Olympic Torch relay. Unfortunately we were unable to ring all 8 bells due to work, school and road closures!  However we rang a very nice quarter of Plain Bob Doubles finishing at 12.30;  leaving us just enough time to run up the road, grab a pint from the Black Swan, and watch the torch go past.

Friday 27^th July again saw a gathering of ringers up in the belfry, this time to ring for the Opening of the London 2012 Olympic Games.   We rang a quarter peal of Grandsire Triples starting just after 6pm leaving us plenty of time to get home and eat before settling down to watch the Opening Ceremony.   

And what a games it was!  I loved every single minute of the next 16 days!