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