Bell Ringing

The Ringers

St Mary's has an enthusiastic band of ringers covering a wide age range from youngsters up to adult. We regularly ring for Sunday services and for special occasions like weddings and times of celebration.
We also practice regularly on a Tuesday evening.

We are always pleased to welcome visiting ringers to the tower either on a practice night or to ring with us on a Sunday.

In addition we are always looking for new recruits to our band of ringers. If you would like to find out more about ringing then please do get in touch. Come and be part of the peculiarly English tradition that goes back several hundred years and is part of our way of life. We would be pleased to welcome you to the tower on a Tuesday night. Ringing is a very pleasant and social past time, but once you start it does have a habit of becoming addictive!! There is quite a lot of ringing activity in the North Somerset area.

Ringing Times

Practice Night	Tuesday	7:00pm - 7:45pm	Beginners
		7:45pm - 9:00pm	General
		9:00pm - 11:00pm	Butchers Arms
Sunday	Morning	9:00am - 9:30am
	Evening	5:15pm - 6:00pm	1st Sunday - generally a ¼ peal
			4th Sunday - by arrangement
2nd Saturday	Special Advanced Practice	7:30pm - 9:00pm	See Bath & Wells for details

Other times by arrangement.

The Bells

St Mary's has a fine peal of 8 bells with a tenor weighing some 24 cwt in the key of D. The bells vary in age from 1451 (7th bell) to 1992 (4th bell) but blend very well to produce an excellent sounding peal amongst one of the best in Somerset. The bells have been looked after over the years by the well known Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London.

The bells are much sought after by visiting bands of ringers from other towers around the country and are regularly used for quarter peals and a number of peal attempts (usually limited to 4 per year).

Bell	Current Founder	Date	Weight	Note
Treble	Mears & Stainbank	1950	5-3-8	D
2nd	Mears & Stainbank	1950	6-0-11	C#
3rd	Mears & Stainbank	1950	6-3-21	B
4th	Whitechapel	1992	8-3-14	A
5th	R Purdue, Bristol	1622	11-1-18	G
6th	Mears & Stainbank	1903	12-2-11	F#
7th	Bristol Foundry	1451	17-1-18	E
Tenor	Whitechapel	1980	24-1-8	D

Weddings

If you are arranging a wedding at St Mary's, we would be very pleased to ring following the service as a celebration of the occasion. Please get in touch with us as soon as possible to make the necessary arrangements.
There is a fee payable for wedding ringing.

Affiliations

We are affiliated to the Bath & Wells Diocesan Association of Change Ringers and more details about ringing in this area can be found on their website.
For more general information on bells and bell ringing please go the website of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers or the website of The Ringing World.

Contacts

Ringing Master	Bernard North Tel No. 01934 838700 email
Tower Secretary	Fiona Mann

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