Its been a couple of weeks since I posted any news and this very rainy and wet day has prompted me to post an update.

We have done a lot of ringing since the church fete, which was much appreciated by Rev Rachel in her email to me afterwards thanking the ringers for their “…wonderful heralding of the fete!” We are very grateful for her support and encouragement.

Since then we have rung the 120 call change composition a further two times. On the 6th September it was to acknowledge the achievements of the olympics teams, and came the day after the paralympics closed. We mentioned especially Will Hipwell, born and bred in Lt Gransden, for his part in the Boccia squad in the paralympics. On the 10th September we rang in celebration of Martin Prest’s marriage to Katie, on the following day in GG church. Michael Prest also rang and David and Sheila P made up the family four with Sheila and me completing the band. Both Martin and Michael are former ringers at the tower.

We have rung the 120 on three occasions now, and eight of our ten regular ringers have now completed this. And this secular ringing brings me to the point…. Church bells are no only to be rung for church services, although that will remain a key objective for ringers. Bells are loud instruments and can be used to advertise and celebrate all sorts of other events too. Bell ringing is an art, a science and a sport and we should be encouraging and training people to continue this centuries old activity.

The first bell ringers didn’t use to ring only for church services. They rang for local, national and civic events for which they were paid. Ringing developed in our major towns and cities where men rang for excercise. It was a sport to them and they often rang in competitions. By the late 19th century the church was concerned about the arrangement that ringers had (and singers in the west gallery by the way, who were also paid), and belfry reform was introduced which tied ringing in with worship in a closer way than ever before.

This was fine at the time, and into the 20th century. Even up until the mid century the link seemed to be inextricable. Then, something began to change. Church congregations slowly dwindled and young ringers bacame more difficult to find. Ringing in many churches declined, and is still declining as we try to find a solution to the recruitment problem.

But, ringing is not in decline overall and there are many young ringers now taking on the challenge of learning change ringing. New teaching techniques developed by the Association of Ringing Teachers is raising the profile, and technology in and out of the tower is making ringing much more relevant and interesting.

Above all, modern communication helps us all to keep up with ringing achievements and developments in the UK and throughout the world. And “communication” is a key word. We should be letting our communities know when we ring and why we are ringing. We should maintain a tower social media page and a website to reinforce our message that ringing is successful and enjoyable. We should build and maintain close links with our churches (PCCs and incumbent) to support their mission and help them to understand our goal in building change ringing as a nationally recognised activity which benefits the church and whole community.

We have been doing this in the Gransdens for some time and will continue to build on our strengths and presence in our village. Thank you to everyone for your support.

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Further reading, which prompted my writing this update, and which details at length the history of change in church bell ringing, can be read in Michael Foulds paper written in 2015, called Change Ringing in the Future

We are always on the lookout to ring for village occasions. On Saturday 28th August we rang for twenty minutes before Great and Little Gransdens’ church fete, which was held next door in the Old Vicarage garden. Call changes greeted villagers as they gathered to enjoy a traditional fete with preserves, cakes, books, plants and bric-a-brac for sale, and a chance to win on the bottle stall and in the grand draw etc. etc.

Live jazz entertained the throng as the sun eventually broke through, and guests enjoyed teas in a shady part of the garden; and some commented on how much they enjoyed the bells.

Well done ringers – good job done. We were pleased to be part of the fete, which raised over £2800.

A full album of photographs can be found by clicking on the image.

The annual tower clean up took place this week. This involves thoroughly cleaning each room starting at the top in the old belfry and working down. It is arduous work at times necessitating squeezing into tight spots, especially in the old belfry where access to the bell frame is limited.

The opportunity is taken to carry out an inspection of the bell and clock installation to make sure that everything is in safe working order. Annual cleaning is important because although we have effective bird proofing during the course of a 12 month quite a lot of dust and small debris is blown into the tower. Regular cleaning also maintains the fabric of the church.

Ringers met today to ring a quarter peal on Great Gransden bells. This is the first quarter peal on the bells for eighteen months (9th March 2020), such a long gap whereas we are usually ringing about eight quarters every year, but the Covid pandemic prevented us from ringing very much until now.

It was lovely to meet up with ringing family and friends and we rang a very enjoyable and creditable quarter, being 720 of Single Oxford Bob Minor and a 564 changes of Plain Bob Minor. The ringing took 45 minutes and two minutes of the ringing be heard by clicking this link. It is the end of the Single Oxford and the change over to Plain Bob.

The ringing was very good throughout and we were pleased to be able to slot back into ringing so easily after such a long wait!

Monday 2nd August, the ringers meet with a little apprehension. We are to ring 120 call changes (the extent on 5 bells), which will take about 25 minutes. Most of us haven’t rung for any longer than 10 minutes since Covid restrictions have been eased, and so are a litttle out of practice.

The bells are already up from Sunday’s ringing, so that saves us a job, but it takes us a few minutes to settle into some reasonable rounds, and we had to start again after a few minutes of ringing because someone forgot to switch on the digital recorder!!

Off we go again, and all went well with changes being called approximately every 3 whole pulls, and the extent took 24 minutes to complete.

We were pleased to be able to mark our ringing as a celebration of the birth of David and Sheila Prest’s grandson, Dylan William Brayman Prest on 28th July 2021.

Follow this link to hear the last two minutes of our ringing.

Saturday 24th July 2021

A super Saturday afternoon at the Gransdens’ Societies Fair featuring about 20 village organisations. From bowls club to tennis; from singers, guides and golf, to childrens’ club and horticulture; something for everyone.

The bell ringers were there too, inviting people to ring the Ely Association’s mobile bell. Fifteen people from age 7 to ??? had a go and all were able to ring within a few minutes, the younger ones needing a little extra help, but some coming back later for more practice! Every participant was issued with a complulsory “I rang the mobile bell” sticker; greatly appreciated by children and graciously accepted by adults!We were encouraged to receive many comments about how much people enjoyed the sound of the bells and although we didn’t gain any new recruits our presence at the fair was educational and enjoyable.

Thanks to the Ely DA for loaning the bell, the orgasnisers of the fair for giving us the opportunity to get out into our community, and to all our ringers who helped fly the flag. It was a great day!

We rang the front five bells this morning because it was rather warm, and although it was still relatively cool at 9.15am it was warming up quickly in the mini heatwave! We rang call changes with the 5 in.

Lockdown will be eased on Monday 19th July and the latest CCCBR comunication confirms that all social distancing is off, mask wearing is not complusory, and length of time ringing is up to us. The House of Bishops has issued guidelines and comments and it will be up to individual parish priests and churchwardens as to what, if any advisory measures are put in place.

A copy of the CCCBR statement has been circulated to our ringers and we will discuss this on Thursday 22nd at our practice. Meanwhile, a new risk assessment is being drafted.

Thanks for the feedback on the website so far. I have made some amendments and tried to pick up on typos. Please continue to let me know if you spot any errors (and encourage others to sign up for the updates!).

We had an enjoyable practice on Thursday, with eight in attendance (excellent!). This meant that, due to Covid regs, two had to wait downstairs while the others rang, but there were plenty of volunteers so that everyone had several rings. We continue to ring call changes only and usually for about ten minutes at a stretch, but the quality of the striking is pretty good and I hope were all enjoying it.

As we expect to have all Covid restrictions lifted on 19th July I have set aside Wednesday 21st and Tuesday 27th as possible dates to ring 120 call changes as part of our stamina building initiative. Ringing will last about 30 minutes. I think we will only have enough ringers for one team at the moment, so we’ll decide on the date soon.

I am collecting names for attendance at the Societies’ Fare on the 24th July and although several of us are involved with other village organisations I hope there will be plenty of opportunity for everyone to ring the mobile bell.

We are ringing the SIM next Tuesday 13th at 10.00am, and there is a normal practice on Thursday at 7.30pm. Dont’ forget that we have a calendar on the website which I hope will always be up to date with ringing events.

On Friday 2nd July we held our annual Ringers and Singers safari supper when members of the church choir and the ringers visited three different venues around the village. We had a very relaxing and pleasant time in the balmy evening sunshine, taking the opportunity to explore our hosts’ beautiful gardens. We all met together for the sweet course where some enjoyed a game of croquet until poor light stopped play, but our social chatter continued until well after dusk.Thank you to our hosts for opening their gardens, to Sheila (photo credit) for organising us, and to everyone for their great company.

I have done more work on the website design, creating and adding a site logo which heads each page. The idea is to present a modern look for bell ringing which will be attractive for visitors and new ringers.

I have introduced a QR code to new advertsing posters for church and other notice boards. The code can easily be scanned with a smart phone camera and takes the reader to a 15 second clip of the bells ringing. The website is gradually taking shape and we hope to launch it in the next couople of weeks.

I am currently working on another website as I try to bring together all the information I have on local bell towers and history, so work on this site has slowed for the time being. But, I am experimenting with diferent website themes and have just changed this one. This may not be the finished product as I am still learning my way around WordPress, but hopefully I will have decided on a theme by the time all the pages are fully populated.