During our practice on Thursday 30th March we proudly peresented membership certificates to Josh and Mirjam. Mirjam was elected as a member of the Ely Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers in November 2022 and Josh in March 2023.

The aim of the Association during the last twelve months was to elect 125 new members, it being its 125th anniversary. I hope that we can report success in this respect in due course.

During the practice we rang call changes and Plain Bob Doubles and worked on Plain Bob Minimus for some to consolidate counting places.

The pictures are of general ringing, Josh & Mirjam with their certificates and the Association badges: membership badge, centenary badge and 125th anniversary badge.

Well, what a busy and exciting time we are having in the tower at the moment.

Josh has just achieved his level one certificate in the Learning the Ropes scheme. This is quite a tough call which covers all the basic skills required to safely handle a bell. Josh has worked hard and has also done a lot of research into ringing, often asking about specific aspects of the art. He is currently learning call changes and is generally consolidating his bell control. He has already started on level two by introducing additional ringing skills such as place making and dodging. Onwards and upwards Josh!

In the last two weeks we have been teaching two more new ringers. Siobhan and Steve are setting out on their journey of doscovery after being put in touch with us by the Association of Ringing Teachers. They had responded to the Ring for the King appeal for new ringers. As with many new ringers their first visit to the tower was an education in itself but we were able to explain a lot about bells and ringing, and they grasped the nettle and have completed two training sessions so far.

As we move into spring we are planning new ringing activities. Tricia is organising our spring mini outing in April and we are preparing for the coronation weekend when all our ringers will be ringing for the king.

Here are photos taken at practice on Thursday 16th March when we rang Grandsire 5, Plain Bob 5, and Call Changes. And of course there were sweets at half time!

The local history society, The Gransdens Society, invited us to give a talk about the bells on Tuesday 21st February 2023. It was a pleasure to be there and an excellent opportunity to describe the history of the installation and explain why we ring.

It was entitled “The Church Bells and Ringers of Great Gransden – a brief history of chime” and broadly covered the period from the 17th century to the present day but focussing mainly from the late 19th century.

We were able to show unique footage of the bells being rung in the 1990s as well as photographs of former ringers. A history of the bells was described, from their installation in 1658 and several recastings over the years to the rehanging in 2000. We talked about past ringers and how they served the church and ringing in their time. The photographs and videos brought the presentation to life and was rounded off by some change ringing on handbells, which most people had not seen practised before. We were pleased to answer many questions from the audience.

Sheila George expertly changed slides and showed the videos according to the script and Catherina Griffiths (St.Neots) joined us at the end to ring the handbells.

Many thanks to the Society for inviting us, we are always pleased to get into the public eye rather than be hidden away in the tower!

Links to two videos can be found here:

Virtual tour of the tower

Church bells during the 1990s

Thursday 17th February was Mirjam’s last practice with us before leaving for mainland Europe. As many as possible attended practice to say farewell and wish her and husband Paul good luck as they move to Luxembourg.

Mirjam is a loyal and enthusiastic ringer having taken up the hobby this time last year. She was able to ring for the Jubilee and later took part in ringing for the funeral of HM QE2. She is a key member of the weekly “tied bell” group which meets on Wednesdays, and brings enthusiasm and encouragement to us all. She attained level 1 in the A.R.T. Learning the Ropes scheme and is beginning to study for level 2.

We’ll miss her determined participation and great company but wish her all the best and look forward to seeing her on ocassion when she returns to the UK.

The photos show the Thursday night band as we presented Mirjam with a momento, a jigsaw puzzle depicting the church and ringers.

We had a really joyful practice on Thursday 9th February with plenty of laughter and ringing. On this occasion we were delighted to welcome our priest in charge, Rev Rachel, who wanted to thank us in person for all the ringing we do and how much she and the community enjoy it.

The place was bustling with enthusiasm. We started our evening with some Grandsire Doubles, followed by Rounds. Sheila then asked Rachel if she would like to have a go and explained that she could try the backstroke. After a brief demonstration by Josh, our youngest ringer, the rope was handed to her and in a very few moments she had almost mastered this excercise. She later said “…I enjoyed my little attempt, as inspired by Josh!”

Rachel had to leave us at 8.00pm but before doing so presented us with cakes to enjoy later (so as not to make the ropes sticky!)

A great evening was had by all and were very much encouraged and inspired by Rachel’s visit.

One of the raffle prizes during our coffee morning in November 2022 was a Tower Tour, an opportunity to visit the church tower and explore the various rooms to see the clock and the bells.

Sheila and I met our visitors, a group of eight, and accompanied them to the ringing room where they could warm themselves from the chilly environs of the church. We decided to divide the group into two which made access to the upper levels easier. It also enabled everyone to see how a bell was rung from the ringing room and see it in action in the belfry, and on our CCTV.

In the ringing room, everyone was interested in our notice boards and striking competition certificates, and the two dimensional model of a bell was used to demonstrate how a bell works.

In turn, each group visited the clock room where the chiming apparatus was demonstrated. Then upwards to the belfry where No4 bell had been silenced and could be seen being rung, with our visitors at a safe distance.

The response from everyone was one of fascination as they saw the church clock and bells in situ for the first time. There were many questions! So much is unimagined from the outside!

Finally we asked them to sign our visitors book and a group photo was taken. We had a lovely afternoon, it was a delight to welcome everyone.

The New Year is always a good time to plan for the new ringing season. We have had a break from tied bell practices over the Christmas period and its always good to start the new season with a theory session before we get back into the tower.

On Wednesday 18th January our first meeting was as Nutbells when we looked at the requirements for Level 3 and Level 4 stages in the Learning the Ropes training scheme. After establishing what everyone had to aim for we discussed and practised writing out Plain Hunt of 5 bells. This exercise was understood and some “informal” homework was set to write out a Plain Course of Plain Bob Doubles, just an extension to Plain Hunt, to be submitted in a week’s time when we will meet in the tower again.

Of course, there was a lot of chatter about other ringing topics and this was accompanied by coffee and shortbread. Our normal hour session was extended by 30 minutes but we rounded off the session feeling refreshed and challenged! Now for some hard work in making things happen – Level 3 and 4 certificates to be accomplished this year!

On Thursday 19th twelve of us met for practice. It was a chilly evening and thank you David for venturing across to the tower early to switch on the heaters. Sheila G kept us all busy, and warm, by scheduling in Plain Bob Doubles, Plain Hunt 6, Grandsire Doubles and call changes.

Sheila also included Rounds for Josh. Josh is a new young ringer we are teaching. He has had two lessons and is ringing backstrokes and handstrokes seperately. He is learning to ring up a bell. He had a go at ringing just the backstrokes to Rounds and achieved this with excellent results. This is the first time he has rung on open bells and an opportunity for him to try and pick out the sound of his own bell. He also rang the handstrokes in Rounds. His achievements were accompanied by words of encouragement and congratulations from the other ringers.

We were also very pleased to present level 2 certificates to Tricia and Julia, so our emphasis this year will be on Level 3 and Level 4, as well as Level 1 and Level 2 for Josh. Exciting times ahead!

Ringers were reminded about the Annual District Meeting on Saturday 21st to be held at Gamlingay. Our next ringing will be at practice next week, but with tied bell practice on Wednesday for all who wish to attend, when we will be working on bell control when dodging and striking accuarcy.

Fifteen of us (ringers and partners) squeezed around the dining table on Thursday 5th January to enjoy a feast at our Christmas party. Everyone took their part in cooking, baking or otherwise providing a super three course meal.

The usual jollity of Christmas crackers, paper hats and poor jokes were shared as we enjoyed our time together, one of the few occasions when we aren’t ringing!

After dinner David thanked Phillip & Sheila for their work and encouragement during the year and presented them with a personalised gift – a jigsaw puzzle featuring fully muffled bells of Great Gransden. In reply Phillip thanked David and Sheila P for hosting the party and to everyone for contributing to the wonderful food; and for their loyal support through the year…oh! and don’t forget, ringing tomorrow at 6.15pm for the service of Epiphany!

We were then entertained by one of David’s quizes, resulting in two winning teams. Because there was only one set of team prizes they were awared to the losing team, accompanied by laughter and approval all round! Quizmaster rules!!!

A super evening all round!

Ringing for the Epiphany

On Friday 6th we rang for the service of the feast of the Epiphany. We had been asked to keep the Christmas lights on in the ringing room as part of the celebration.

We held our last practice of the year on Thursday 22nd December and celebrated our ringing by presenting Mirjam with her Level 1 Learning the Ropes certificate. Mirjam’s certificate is the third this year for our ringers, others were for Julia, L1 and Hazel, L3.

In between ringing, which included 120 Grandsire Doubles, Call Changes and ringing Rounds with alternate bells at opposite strokes (!), we enjoyed mulled wine and biscuits. The dress code was Christmas jumpers and hats etc. and the decorated ringing room added to the occasion.

We have had an exciting and busy year. Our ringing and events have been summarised into a new promotional video entitled “A Year in the Life of Great Gransden Bell Ringers (and friends) 2022. We hope you will enjoy the video which can be found by following this link , its just 2 minutes 40 seconds long.

Finally, we would like to thank all our followers and supporters in the village and we look forward to ringing for you in 2023.

On Sunday 4th December Rev Rachel had arranged three 5-minute services of light and reflection in this season of Advent. We were asked to ring for ten minutes before each service. The church was illuminated mainly by candles which gave a different light and created a calm, peaceful atmosphere.

A small team of ringers was rostered for the occasion and during the services we watched quietly from the ringing room using torchlight to enhance the moment.

Some of the ringers attended the last of the services and others headed off to the Reading Room Night Cafe, where local Christmas crafts were on sale, refreshments served and live music entertained us. A lovely village event.