Bells
Bellringing News PDF Print E-mail
Written by Diana Slevin   
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 20:09

Recent events


In May/June – we celebrated the second anniversary of the restoration of the bells with the first 3 hour peal since rehanging.

It was of 5088 Lincolnshire Surprise Major  http://ringing.org/main/pages/method?name=Lincolnshire&class=4&stage=8

Your local band isn’t up to such a feat of concentration and ringing prowess – yet – so we took up the offer from a really good band with Winslow connections to do the honours. Read more by clicking here.

 

The booklet and a commemorative script for display in the church will be ready soon.

 

We rang  in support of Winslow in Bloom on June 6th and held our Annual Tower meeting before practice on June 7th A report will appear here soon.

 

Winslow ringers also pitted their skills in a friendly contest with other towers at the 6-bell striking competition in Whitchurch on June 12th . The aim is to ring consistently at an even speed with even spacing and no clashes for a set time complying with a list of requirements. The good news is that we came 3rd – the less good – there were only 3 official teams competing. We were very pleased to manage to take part as we rang at  Winslow weddings before and after the competition. One of our Winslow ringers also took part with other young ringers in an unofficial ‘youth’ team.


First Quarters - Congratulations to both Mandy Cliffe and Paul Bagni who rang in a quarter peal of Bob Doubles at Gt Horwood practice eve on Tuesday June 22nd. It was Mandy’s first quarter peal (she rang the treble) and Paul’s first ‘inside’.  More information on the cbb website http://www.bellringing.biz/cbb/news.php


St George’s Day - Ringing took place on April 23rd for St George’s Day. This was part of a countrywide initiative, supported by the Oxford Diocesan Bellringing Guild for as many towers as possible to ring at 6pm on the day.


Muffles – half muffles have been bought by the ringers for the bells so that they can be rung to commemorate solemn and sad occasions such as the Remembrance Day service or at funerals. The 8 bells ring out clearly Ding Ding..... Dong then all is heard is 8 quiet thuds, this pattern is repeated. This format can often be heard in the background at state funerals.

Last Updated on Monday, 28 June 2010 16:59
 
St Laurence Bells PDF Print E-mail
Written by Duncan McLean   
Saturday, 07 March 2009 20:55

St Laurence church is very fortunate to have a fine peal of 8 bells. The oldest bell, The Sanctus, was originally cast in Buckingham in 1611 and the final pair of bells was added as recently as 1955.



As well as chiming the hours and quarter-hours, a mechanical carillon plays the hymn tune St David after the chimes every third hour.

Change ringing by a team of experienced ringers shows the full potential of the bells but as with many church towers across the land there have been times when our bells have been silent. This was the case at St Laurence towards the end of the last millennium due to a shortage of ringers but there was a drive to have all the towers with bells in England ringing for the year 2000. St Laurence redoubled its efforts to recruit ringers and prospective recruits were directed to Great Horwood for training, there being no tower captain at St Laurence at the time. Other local churches in Stewkley, Whitchurch and Little Horwood also assisted with the training of the present band.

The current joint tower captains are Diana Slevin and Mandy Cliffe and each Sunday a number of bells at St Laurence are raised and rung full circle, summoning our parishioners to the service. This is known as “Service Ringing”, it is what the bells are for. Some times we have very experienced ringers visiting the tower, and those with sharp ears may discern some nice tunes. This is known as “The Exercise”. A peal ring was conducted in November 2006 to commemorate 50 years from the installation of the 2 treble bells in 1956 and also to mark the retirement of the vicar, Tony Whalley. Details and pictures here.



Regular ringing practice is needed in order to achieve a standard in keeping with the fine ring of bells at the church. Practices are held on Monday evenings from 7.30 to 9.00. Sunday service ringing is normally 8.50 to 9.25am.


We would welcome more bellringers on a regular or occasional basis. If you are interested and are experienced, even if lapsed, then please contact Tower Secretary Jan Lewis.


The Winslow church is approached from the N.W. corner of the Market Square, or from Church Walk, off the High Street.

Click here for for team activities. Contact us by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

For other Bell Ringing news in Central Bucks click here.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 09 June 2010 21:32
 
Restoration PDF Print E-mail
Written by Diana Slevin   
Monday, 10 November 2008 21:16

Click here for details of the restoration work and pictures of the removal and subsequent return of the bells.

The Bucks Herald carried an interview in 2007 with Diana Slevin, Joint Tower Captain, on the restoration project.  Click here if you would like to hear it (you may need to press the Ctrl key as well as clicking Play to make the video play).


Click here to hear the individual bells for the last time before they were removed for restoration and here to hear rounds from the bells after restoration.
Last Updated on Sunday, 04 October 2009 18:04