Bell Ringing in the Blyth Valley Churches

Church bells have for centuries been used to summon people to worship (in the absence of medieval wrist watches) and to celebrate national events (e.g. the King’s coronation in 2023) or weddings. Since about 1500 English bells have been hung with a wheel, enabling a skilled ringer to slightly vary the speed at which each bell rings, leading to “change-ringing”, the unusual but familiar music that  comes out of church towers. Some of the bells in our churches are over 500 years old and sound just as they did when Henry VIII was King.

In the Blyth Valley there are ringable bells at Halesworth (8), Chediston, Wenhaston and Wissett (6), and Heveningham and Huntingfield (5). There are also 5 bells at Bramfield, but the two heaviest are in a dangerous condition and cannot be rung until some expensive renovation has been carried out.

At the moment we ring somewhere in the Team most Sunday mornings and practise, usually at Blythburgh, on Tuesday evenings from 7.30 to 9. There are plenty of opportunities for keenies to ring somewhere nearby every night of the week, and a dedicated teaching session takes place at Reydon on Saturday mornings. Ringing is a very sociable activity: we are often found in the Angel for beer or coffee after ringing (it’s thirsty work!) and we have all made strong friendships through ringing, both locally and nationally.

Our enthusiastic band is always on the lookout for new recruits. Learning to ring is about as hard as learning to drive a car, which means that most people can do it, but you really wouldn’t want to start under the age of about 12/13 or much over 60. Fortunately, we have two ringers in the band who are accredited members of the Association of Ringing Teachers as well as other ringers with teaching experience.

If you would like to learn to ring, or just find out more about ringing, contact
halesworthbells@gmail.com or look on www.bellringing.org.