Anyone in the vicinity of the St Mark’s Quilters monthly workshop last Saturday would have heard more than the usual peals of laughter coming from the church on the hill.
On this occasion there were peals of bells – eight in fact – as our bellringers rang a quarter peal in our honour!
Di B and I couldn’t wipe the grins off our faces when we were invited to join them in the belltower at the end. We had to negotiate a steep, narrow, Harry Potter-like sandstone spiral staircase to reach the chamber where the action took place.
Ringing down the bells at the end.
Apologies to the neighbours for the random ‘ding-dongs’ afterward when Di and I were allowed to try our hand at tolling the bells 
That’s Amanda on the right. She’s a real bellringer, and a St Mark’s Quilter!
We had the priviledge of being invited into the bell tower at the Anglican Church in Singleton, during a performance between services. Apparently, there is an organisation for campanologists and when they travel anywhere in the world, they can organise to be able to ring the bells in any church. Unfortunately, many bell towers these days have had their bell pulls replaced by recorded music and even though it still sounds good, there is nothing like the sound of the actual bells pealing!
ReplyDeleteHow cool is that!! Wow - I would love to ring a real bell-tower bell! :D
ReplyDeleteI bet that was fun! Have you ever seen the episode of 'Midsomer Murders' with the theme of bell ringing?
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