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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
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How to do. . . Bell ringing
Duncan tries to get to grips with the rope and sally in Stanground Church. (5PF0811488) Picture: Paul Franks
IN the past few months I have grappled with martial arts experts, taken to the skies supported by an over-grown kite wing, and got up close and personal with thousands of bees.
So I would never have thought that the thing to cause me most bother would be a simple bell rope.
There is probably nothing more evocative of the English countryside than the sound of church bells on a summer evening.
And as I walked up to Stanground church on a bright summer evening – a rarity this summer – I could imagine the gentle sound drifting across the city.
The sound may be gentle, but the activity within the ringing chamber is anything but, as the bell ringers not only ring the bells, but also try to remember the order in which they are supposed to be rung.
Watching five of the Stanground Church bell team at work, it was amazing to see the concentration that the task took.
And it was also interesting to see the mix of men and women, old and young taking part in the ringing.
Bell-ringing is really a hobby for anyone, no matter what their physical strength – all you need is enough muscle to push a child on a swing.
It really takes a bit of concentration and hand-eye co-ordination to make it work – which is where my problem lay.
Tower captain Graham Hill took me through the basics. He has been bell-ringing ever since he was a teenager, and is now responsible for the upkeep of the bells in the tower, as well as leading the group.
English bell ringing differs from other countries in that rather than just ringing the bell by making it move from side to side, the English bells have to be rung up before they are played, so the bell itself faces the ceiling rather than the floor.
A piece of wood called the stay keeps the bell in the upright position when it is not being rung, allowing it to be controlled by the ringer and released at the correct time.
There are two parts to the bell rope – the tail and the soft sally, which are pulled alternately to make the bell ring.
As a beginner I was initially shown how to pull using just the tail – basically the end of the rope when the rope is at its highest – with Graham pulling on the sally.
I was started on one of the smaller bells. The biggest and oldest in the collection of six bells in the tower weighs 14cwt, which is slightly more than 700kg, and took two people to get it into position, although only it only needs one person to ring it.
My experience of bell-ringing using his smaller brother started off well. It was when I switched to pulling on the sally that my problems really began.
To pull the sally you first have to catch it as it whistles past your face. Which is easier said than done if you have no co-ordination.
You also have to resist the temptation to look up to see the sally coming down towards you and instead stare straight ahead.
The first time I caught the sally I was so pleased with myself that I made a schoolboy error and forgot to let go after I gave it a pull.
Before I knew it the rope was shooting through my hands at what felt like 1,000 miles an hour carried by the weight of the bell – taking with it a thin layer of skin from my fingertips.
From there I learned to respect the rope – although I have to admit I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic after that, especially when the rope seemed to gain a mind of its own and jump about as it went up and down.
Graham said that perfecting the ringing technique took some time, but that wasn’t the start and end of bell-ringing as a hobby.
From there, the bell-ringer enters a whole new world of learning changes, where the bells are rung in different sequences called out by the conductor, or even, as some bell-ringers do, a world of visiting different churches just to have a try on their bells.
Seeing the concentration and the obvious enjoyment that the ringers had as they rang a few changes on the bells, you could see why it was a hobby that people often do take to for life.