At the last AGM we agreed that Stepney should try and follow the format of Super Tuesday and have a slightly more advanced practice than normal. After consultation with a few people from other Middlesex tower in order not to clash with anything else, we agreed on the last Thursday of the month. The first of these was held last Thursday.
We have done our best to spread the word and we did get extra’s at the practice. Thanks to Ginny, Colin and Derek who came along. Several of our regulars were unable to make it, which meant that everyone got plenty of time at the end of a rope. Cambridge Major, Grandsire Triples, Plain Hunt on 7 and Call Changes on 10 were rung. We tried to concentrate on bell control, striking and rhythm rather than complexity as the back 8 and all 10 are not particularly easy to ring well.
In general the feeling was that the practice was a success though we were reminded how hard the back 8 and whole 10 are.
If you are interested in trying to ring a bit more on higher numbers then please come along to the next practice, it will be on Thursday 27th April at Stepney from 19:30 – 21:30. All welcome.
The Bermondsey AGM was held in the ringing chamber on February 24th 2014. Both Andrew Clark and Alison Hammond stood down from their posts as Tower Captain and Secretary respectively. To thank them for their efforts, we presented them with flowers and an engraved tankard.
On Friday, Roger, Simon, Drew and Mike fitted the new (to us) carpet kindly donated by Trisha. This involved a fair bit of preparation work on the floor and door and allowed Simon to show off his shiny electric plane to good effect.
So, the carpet now fits in with Morag’s new cushions, and the redecorated ringing chamber looks very nice for our regular service and ringers and the many visitors to this tower.
Towers are fun. Bell ringing is fun. And beautiful.
The bells of Stepney (St. Dunstan and All Saints Church, that is) amazed me on that late August morning, when Julian took us on a tour of the tower. Before that time I had only seen the architectural and historical beauty of the church. Such tours are rare and available to few tourists, so I jumped at the opportunity – not anticipating where it would take me. I was soon hooked and started to attend the regular ringing practices.
The more I learn the stronger is the bond between me and the bells and, of course, the ringers.
A few weeks ago I had the chance to experience something even more amazing than “chiming of a few tonnes of metal” and this was the annual half-muffled ringing on Remembrance Sunday. On Saturday I joined Elizabeth, Ed and Julian, who went up the tower to put on the muffles.
Halloween still lingering in the air and the masquerade potential of the muffle too difficult to resist, Ed and I had fun “calling some changes” of personality. (Ed declining to appear with me here, but believe me, he did look funny.)
Eva modelling the muffles for Remembrance Sunday at Stepney
This irreverent bit of fun was followed by a dash of worry: Julian questioning not the propriety of playing dress-up with muffles, but whether the muffles were on the correct side of the clappers. Ringing the bells up – starting with the tenor, since its “new” clapper needs to be flipped over anyway – and turning them over a few times confirmed all was well and gave a sneak preview of the magnificent concert to come on Sunday morning.
Audio of half-muffled bells on Remembrance Sunday 2013 recorded outside of St Dunstans, Stepney
That morning dawned on us with beautiful sunshine and a fantastic, clear blue sky. Grandsire Triples and call changes filled the air. Then, as a final tribute to all those who lost their lives in the wars and never came home – all those ringers who never returned to their home towers – at Elizabeth’s suggestion the bells stood silent one by one ending with the tenor’s graceful and lonely chime to bless all souls.
Video of the half-muffled tenor being rung up on Remembrance Sunday 2013
Video of Elizabeth, Ed, and Julian ringing up the 3,5 and 7 bells on Remembrance Sunday
Note from webmaster – all of these videos, and others, are available at the Docklandsringers YouTube channel. Click on icon at bottom of right hand sidebar
There are five towers in Texas that contain English change ringing bells, three in Houston and one each in Abilene and Dallas. In my recent trip to Texas I was able to include trips to Abilene and Dallas.
Abilene has practices on a Tuesday night and I drove for three hours through a horrendous rain storm to attend the practice there (the rain held off until I’d finished the practice and then started up again in full force for my return journey!). The tower of All Saints (Church of the Heavenly Rest) in Abilene contains 6 bells (tenor 6-1-5), and a regular group of ringers run by Robert Partin (Tower Captain). It had a very nice spirit and they made me extremely welcome. They’ve done most of the routine bell maintenance themselves and have an amazing set of stays for each bell. One stay was broken by a learner when I was there and Len, Robert’s assistant, nipped up the tower and replaced it in just a few minutes. The handling of the bells was quite tricky because the ropes are rather long and very thin, and so get tangled round the hands if you’re not careful. We rang rounds and call changes and then I and one of the learners climbed right up above the bells with the storm beginning to brew again. Len was all for us opening the top hatch and going out onto the roof itself but we resisted his enthusiastic urgings!
Greg in Abilene
St James’s Episcopal Church in Dallas has a practice on Wednesdays and occasional Saturdays. Because I was based between Fort Worth and Dallas I was able to go to Dallas three times – two practices and a Sunday ring. Dallas also has 6 bells (4-2-12) and the Tower Captain, Linda Rankin, is a Cumberland Youth. There are 3 regular ringers with her, including a complete beginner, who is already ringing cover and starting to do call changes, so is coming on immensely fast. Again, I was made very welcome and had some very good sessions in the pub with this lovely band. On the last practice I was introduced to Stedman Single, which was interesting! I really hope to go back there one day and highly recommend it to anyone visiting Texas.
