Bellringing more than “pulling on ropes”

Wednesday 10 August 2022

The Town Church Tower Captain has lifted the lid on one of the island’s surprising hobbies and said newcomers are always "happily welcomed".

Duncan Loweth, who has been bellringing for nearly 14 years, said ringing was “unlike anything else” and needs to be tried to be understood.

“If you think bellringing is all about pulling on ropes, then you’re half right. The physical aspect of ringing does involve pulling and catching ropes and doing it in time with others to make music,” said Mr Loweth. 

Pictured: The Most recent bell to be acquired by the Town Church is called "Trinity". 

Mr Loweth continued: “We can’t play tunes on the bells because it takes too long for the bells to swing round to play repeated notes. Instead we ring patterns called ‘methods’ where the bells dance around each other in a repeating pattern carefully composed so that the bells never clash, never leave a gap and also never repeat the same order until you’ve rung every possible order of the bells and loop back round to the beginning.”

Mr Loweth said that bellringing was a team effort. “You need one person per bell. We either achieve a tricky new method together or we fire it out together with more experienced ringers nodding, smiling and waving at those who are learning to help them along the steps of the method, so we all get there.”

It is a misconception that bellringers need to be churchgoers. 

“Most of our ringers don’t go to church at all and some go to other churches. Whether you are religious or not, we will welcome anyone who wants to make music in our peculiar way. We are always happy to welcome new people into the tower to have a look and pull on a rope. There are no expectations that you’ll become a ringer; you can simply come to have a look if you want,” said Mr Loweth. 

Pictured: A thick leather cap is placed over one side of the "clapper" to make the bells sound mournful for Remembrance Sunday. 

The Town Church has 10 bells, one of which is used for the clock. 

“The bell which is only used for the clock is the one that can be seen from outside in its little shelter on the side of the spire,” said Mr Loweth. 

“Our most recently acquired bell is called Trinity as it used to be a buoy bell owned by Trinity House. As old buoys were decommissioned the bells were donated to many churches and ringing centres across the British Isles.  

“Trinity is just set up as a service bell and is struck by an electronically controlled hammer from controls down in the church.  That leaves 8 bells for us to ring which are all hung on bearings with great big wooden wheels which allows they to swing round in full circles back and forth when the ropes are pulled.”

Pictured: The Town Church hosts bellringing practice on Thursday evenings at 19:30. 

The clock bell, which chimes on the hour during the day and evening, but not overnight, was recently out of action due to a fault with the automated mechanism. It has since been repaired.

Mr Loweth said that the other bells are rung by hand. 

“We ring for lots of events including Liberation Day, Remembrance Sunday, Sunday morning church services, weddings, funerals and any other services that are requested,” he said. 

“Mostly, we ring for ourselves because we love it. We ring at least twice a week with one official practice a week and Sunday service ringing but with helping out the youth practice, quarter peals (45 minutes ‘performance’ piece), handbells, visiting the other ringing churches on island and any bonus sessions we can easily be out most days of the week to ring.”

Pictured: The Town Church clock tower bell rings every hour through the day and evening, but not overnight. 

The Town Church has a Youth Bellringing Fund which awards ringing scholars £100 per term if they attend practice and Sunday service ring each week during term time. The group practices on Thursday evenings at 19:30.

“We currently have four scholars and we are very grateful for them as we would often struggle for a complete band without at least one youth being involved.  They have also injected extra energy and keenness to learn new pieces of music and achieve milestones that has pulled us adults along too,” said Mr Loweth. 

“We often welcome groups of scouts or other youth groups and occasionally host corporate team building events.”

Mr Loweth encouraged anyone interested in finding out more about bellringing sessions to email townchurchbellringers@gmail.com or visit the “Town Church Bellringers Guernsey” Facebook page.