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Bingley Bells News From The Belfry |
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Click on the links below: - See ringing with Yorkshire Tails
Links to local towers' websites with simulators |
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News from the belfry May 2012 In case you wondered why there were no bells on Sunday 6th May, we were on our annual trip - in this case to Wales. We had set a target of eleven towers in three days, could we keep up the pace?
Day 1.Tower 1, Ross-on-Wye. Pointy-spired church on top of a hill, very easy to find. Over-enthusiasm with climbers ‘sticky-grip’ (useful for getting purchase on rope) meant that I stuck well to everything (bell-ropes, steering wheel, wineglass) for rest of day. Tower 2, Monmouth. Graceful market town. Lovely mezzanine ringing chamber looking out over nave backed by beautiful full length stained glass window with water theme (little fish swimming all along the bottom). Very long bell-ropes. Tower 3, Usk. We mingled (in fleeces and jeans) with departing wedding guests (“Darling, who are all these scruffy people on our photos?”). Lovely, light, easy to handle bells. Base camp established at a Travelodge, with evening meal in the Carvery. Day 2. Great consternation when we realised breakfast didn’t start until 9am, the very time we were due to start ringing. I have observed that bell-ringers do not like ringing with empty stomachs. McDonalds/self catering sufficed. Towers 4, 5 & 6. Whitchurch, Radyr & Rumney. We rang prior to Sunday Morning Service at the first two churches. At Rumney we were asked to bypass the main entrance and go straight round to the tower door. The bishop was visiting and they obviously didn’t want him meeting riff-raff like us. Sweet little church with just 6 bells. Picnic lunch in sunshine on Llandaff Green. Tower 7. Llandaff Cathedral. Awesome and enormous Cathedral for Tower 8. Hungry again, evening meal at Italian restaurant overlooking Day 3. Wet! Breakfasted at nearby Wetherspoons. Great success, full stomachs for; Towers 9 & 10. Caerphilly and Blaenavon. Torrential rain at Caerphilly, so we didn’t notice much of the town. Blaenavon is a world heritage site due to former ironworks and full of character. Blaenavon’s 8 beautiful bells were nearly smuggled home with us. Very light and fast. Tower 11. Abergavenny. Their 10 bells are reputedly the best ring in whole of My first Tower Trip was a really enjoyable weekend. Many thanks from all of us to Jane, Bob and Claire for the marvellous organisation which made it all happen. Jane Callaghan AKA Jane3 Bingley Bellringers
News from the belfry - April 2012 Last month Jane Callaghan – known to many of us as Jane 3 – rang her first quarter peal. This event takes about three quarters of an hour and on your first attempt time seems to go so slowly if you dare to glance at the clock. Jane rang really well and was supported by four other Bingley ringers aided very kindly by Jeff from Guiseley. Afterwards, in what is fast becoming a Bingley Tradition, she gave each of us a bottle of wine and more unusually a box of free range eggs produced by her own hens. These gifts were much appreciated but we must make it clear that for the rest of us it is the taking part and not the presents that is important! We are now fortunate at Bingley that all our ringers except one are now experienced ringers who have rung quarter peals. It does not stop there though. As others will testify, Jane will continue to ring quarter peals each one being more difficult but never as nerve wracking as that first one! Solna Burnham Bingley Bellringers
News from the belfry - March 2012
The Pancake Bell This is an old tradition which has survived in Bingley for many years and I am sure there are some of you who are unaware of its history. You may even have been concerned when it started to toll this year that it might have been to warn the locality of a great event or emergency. The seventh bell is tolled for five minutes at 11am every Shrove Tuesday. This tradition has been kept alive for many years by Dorothy Winup, one of our past tower captains, and more recently by our ‘elder statesman’ David Appleton. However this year David was unable to ring the bell and we are very grateful to Roger Pollard who ensured the tradition continued. There are other towers in the country where this ritual is performed but we think we are the only town where it no longer has any connection to pancakes, races or any other local celebrations! We are not sure when the tradition started but in pre-reformation times a bell was sounded to call the penitent to church for the confession of their sins before Lent. This was known as ‘shriving’. Later the Pancake Bell was rung at 11am to mark the start of a holiday for local apprentices. An account of 1620 states “...by the time it strikes eleven which (by the helpe of a Knavish sexton) is commonly before nine, then there is a bell rung cauld (sic) the Pancake bell, the sound wherof makes thousands of people distracted and forgetful of either manners or humanity”. It is also clear from the records in the mid nineteenth century that great ringing revels were held on Shrove Tuesday and it may be that the pancake bell had some significance to these. However whatever the reason now we are glad that this, some may say useless, tradition still survives in Bingley.
News from the belfry - February 2012 On Sunday 22 January we rang a quarter peal of Bob Doubles in memory of Colin Elliott, who died 19th January 2004 and who was a member of the choir at this church for many years. As a thank you his wife Eva gave a donation to the handbell fund which was much appreciated by us. The band comprised six members of the All Saints Ringers of whom four were also handbell ringers. The quality of the ringing was very good although one hic cup at about 9.50am meant we had to start again and it was touch and go whether we would finish before the service started. Luckily Ann Parkinson realised the problem and warned the congregation so I trust everyone enjoyed the musical delay in the beginning of the service. On 27 January 14 Bingley ringers and 7 friends and partners held our annual post- Christmas dinner at the Dog and Gun at Oxenhope. Despite the forecast of snow we all arrived safely and had a lovely meal with prompt and friendly service. Two of our party were seated over the well in the restaurant but we are pleased to report the glass cover held out and they also enjoyed the evening! The week commencing 6th February was a very busy one for us. Not only was it the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee but also the 50th birthday of our Ringing Master Jane Lynch These two auspicious occasions required a special celebration. On Wednesday 8 ringers from the Western Branch of the Yorkshire Association (including Jane and myself) met at Bingley to ring a peal of Yorkshire (although Jane originates from Needless to say after our success we retired to the Brown Cow where Jane treated us all to large Steak and Kidney pies before most of the band went on to other towers for evening practices! However like the Queen Jane has more than one birthday celebration. On the Tuesday we decorated the tower suitably with old black and white photos, banners and balloons. After practice retired to the pub for a buffet including hot food, sandwiches, birthday cake and a glass of bubbly. Solna Burnham
News from the belfry - January 2012 Last Sunday Claire and Jane from our tower took part in an experience which Claire suggested was worse than sitting in the dentist’s waiting room before an extraction. They and other ringers who regularly attend the Bradford Cathedral 12 bell practices were invited by David Potter of York Minster to join their ringers for Sunday afternoon service. In fact the ringers from However we are pleased to confirm that they survived the experience and returned with a magnet to add to our growing collection. Solna Burnham Bingley Bellringers
News from the belfry - December 2011 Everyone who wanted to took part in an attempt – Jane Lynch in fact took part in all 8 making her the only ever present! A number of us rang or conducted methods which were new to us giving us great personal satisfaction. As a result of the first attempt of the fortnight Jane 3 qualified as a full member of the Yorkshire Association and yesterday a number of us were at the branch carol Service to applaud her when she received her certificate. One Quarter peal was rung by a band consisting of all Bingley Sunday Service Ringers and we have added it to our official records. We know we are lucky to have enough ringers to do this. We not only rang Quarter Peals at Bingley but also at the other towers in our immediate area where they do not have enough of their own ringers to ring their own Quarter Peals. We helped them achieve their own targets and the neighbours were able to enjoy the sound of the bells. However none of this would have been possible without the assistance we had from others in the branch who helped us ring the more difficult methods we could not have rung on our own. Thank you so much to them. As you can see Bell Ringing is not confined to what happens in the four walls of your own tower with your own ringers but everyone spreads their talents where needed. Another auspicious event took place this week. The ladies regained the Annual Christmas Quiz trophy! They won the quiz by the massive margin of TWO points – this was the most one sided quiz for at least a year! This time we are determined to hold onto the trophy in 2012 unless the men can find a devious way of preventing it! Solna Burnham Bingley Bellringers Note from Webmaster. As I was not able to attend the quiz I am unable to verify this information. However, being a Gentleman, I do not think the Ladies would deliberately give false information . Consequently I think a small typing error has occured and suspicious has been mistyped as auspicious. I am now awaiting further information and will correct this note as soon as possible. Webmaster 12th December 2011 The Webmaster apologises - it seems that there is no error and the ladies did win.
News from the belfry - November 2011 2-27 November 2011 was the Quarter Peal fortnight for the Western Branch of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers of which the All Saints Ringers are part. The idea was to ring a large number of Quarter Peals (approximately 45 minutes ringing) during that fortnight which includes Remembrance Sunday. At Bingley our own targets were for all of us who wanted to ring a quarter peal and for as many of these as possible to be firsts – either a first Quarter Peal, A first in a particular method or a first attempt at conducting a particular method. In addition as Jane Lynch, our ringing master, is on the branch committee with special responsibility for Idle, Saltaire, Calverley and Guiseley we decided to make sure a Quarter was rung in each of these towers. We started off on Saturday 12th attempting two Quarter Peals on the simulator at Bingley. Jane Callaghan – otherwise known as Jane 3 – succeeded in ringing a 720 (slightly shorter than a Quarter) and thus qualified as a full member of the Altogether a very good start to the fortnight! Bingley Bellringers
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