Bellringers

Our Bellringers

Ashwell has six bells, the tenor weighing over 19 cwt (nearly 1 tonne). We practise on Thursday evenings from 8.00 to 9.00. We ring for Evensong on Sunday evenings whenever there are enough of us available, and we usually ring a Quarter Peal on the second Sunday of the month.

Learners and visitors are always welcome. Come to the tower on a Thursday evening and see how challenging and rewarding bell-ringing can be! You can learn to ring with us: you just need a sense of rhythm and a lot of commitment. The hardest part is climbing the stairs to the ringing chamber. Ringing is very much a team effort. We have six bells, so we really need six ringers to ring for a service. When we practise, we need even more: for one person to learn something new, they need five experienced ringers to ring the other bells in the right place, and preferably a trainer to stand with them and help.

In 2006 we struggled to provide six ringers for Sunday services: illness, family commitments, injuries, and diary clashes have all conspired against us. We rang for the Parish Eucharist until the change of service time, and now we try to ring for Evensong. So, if you're a retired ringer, please consider ringing again, and if you'd like to give it a try, do!

We did ring 11 Quarter peals at Ashwell - seven of Bob Doubles, and two each of Bob Minor and of Reverse Canterbury Pleasure Bob Doubles. (What interesting names these methods have!) Ringers from Ashwell also rang a Quarter Peal of Reverse Canterbury Pleasure Bob Doubles at Bucken, visited Chester and St Albans, and joined an outing visiting towers in Essex . Three groups of visitors came to ring here.

Please let us know if you would like us to ring for a special occasion, to celebrate an anniversary or in memory of someone special. Details of extra ringing are usually published in advance in Ashwell News and on notice boards.

Steve White- Tower Captain (834244)