Are you Interested in Learning to Ring?
If so, you can start to learn now and you could be ready to help ring during the 2012 London Olympic Games!
We are always looking for new recruits to help ring our church bells. Most people have the ability to become a good ringer. Great physical strength is not required and people of all ages from 12 upwards are welcome.
Perhaps you used to ring and would consider taking it up again? If you think you might be a little rusty, don't worry! You'll be surprised at just how quickly and easily you can pick up ringing again. We know of many who were able to handle a bell within minutes, even after gaps in their ringing careers of as much as 36 years!
To find out where you can learn, go to our tower map page and click on a icon to find a bell tower near to you. Details of the tower correspondent will be shown. Otherwise, send an email to the gensec [at] surreybellringers [dot] org [dot] uk (General Secretary).
Church Bell Ringing
Church Bell Ringing is a thriving ancient English art that still plays an important part of community life. Today there are about 40,000 ringers who regularly ring for Sunday services as well as for special occasions, anniversaries and weddings. But more ringers are always needed.
The present method of ringing began in the 17th Century when churches restored bells that had been lost or destroyed during the dissolution of the Monasteries. Before this, bells were chimed randomly, as still happens on the Continent. However, now a new mechanism was used. The bells were mounted with full wheels which allowed them to rotate through an entire 360 degrees to produce each sound.
This revolutionary change meant that bells weighing several hundredweight could be controlled very precisely with minimal effort, allowing ringers to produce a more even sound. This heralded the start of "change ringing", the ringing of bells in pre-defined patterns of changes, called "methods". Many of the methods that were composed then are still rung today.
So whenever you hear bells ringing, think of the sound as a continuing tradition, which dates back many hundreds of years.
