There’s something so very joyous about the sound of church bells ringing.
The church down the street from my house near Boston, USA, has a mechanical carillon which is pleasant, but there’s nothing like the ringing of bells by real, live bell-ringers to delight one’s soul, especially when the music emanates from a beautiful Norman church that dates from 1135.
In the above video, the bells of St Mary’s Church, in my parents’ village of Crich, are ringing in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee. I first heard the music from further down the village and was drawn to the church to hear them in their full glory.
And full glory it is! Up close the sound can be quite deafening. I know someone who lives nearby and complains about the “noise,” as he says, from the bells, to which I say, the church has been there a lot longer than he, so if he doesn’t like it, well, he should find somewhere else to live where there is no 900-year-old church with a full set of bells!
It takes great skill to ring the bells properly. The eight bell-ringers at work in the video below who travel among various local churches were kind enough to let me film them.
Sometime in my life I would love to learn to “ring the changes,” as it’s called. But until then, here’s a video I found on YouTube by an Englishman called Ant Smith, who is not a relation (that I know about!). He narrates his month-long instruction on the art of bell-ringing. As he says, it’s harder than it looks.
The Year of Living Englishly 
Today Derbyshire’s Crich bells rang out in Madison, Wis. A great treat. Thanks!
I did learn to be a bell-ringer when I was about 18. It’s fun, but yes, it is hard, and you have to be mathematically inclined, as it’s all about learning number patterns. Handling the bell, which is already quite challenging, is only the beginning.
Also, you have to get used to the fact that whenever you tell anyone you’re a bell-ringer, they look knowingly at you and respond “Ah… a campanologist!”, as if knowing the word ‘campanologist’ is the cleverest and most original thing you will have ever heard.
Very funny! But then, knowing and using the word “campanologist” is already more than I can do.
Thank you. While sitting at my desk on the other side of the world from Crich I listened to the bells of St Mary’s. An emotional experience for me as my 2g grandparents are buried there. (I too am a descendant of the Smith family of Crich).
Very cool! Can you tell me how we’re related? What are the names of your two great-grandparents? I’ll look for their graves the next time I’m in St. Mary’s churchyard. All best and thanks for writing, your cousin Ginnie
I learned to ring fifteen years ago at Long Eaton, and after moving round the country a bit I now ring at Shirland, which is just “down the road” from Crich! I pass this church every time I go to work at the Tramway Museum in Crich, yet have only rung here once! It takes a while to learn how to handle a bell, about a month, then another year to be able to ring it in the right place in “Rounds” (which you filmed) and “Call Changes” where pairs of bells are swapped. Then you start learning patterns (not numbers, so you don’t need a mathematical mind or a musical one (I am proof, I have neither!)) called Methods, and you never stop learning those!
Rich, thanks for writing and providing information about rounds, call changes, and methods! Your bell-ringing and working at the Tramway Museum sound terrific. I’d be interested to know how you found my post. And, thanks for reading and sending me this note. All best, Ginnie
Hope it was of interest. I found this through someone posting a link to your perfect cup of tea posting, and thought “hmm, what else is on here?” If you want to see examples of methods being rung, click on my name on here and it should take you to my YouTube channel (well, my ringing one!) and have a browse, there’s all sorts on there from across the country, so if you have a look I hope you enjoy listening to some of England’s finest (and worst!) bells! Crich’s are certainly a fine ring so you were privileged to hear them as they are rarely rung.
Here’s the link to Rich’s Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/8spliced
Thanks for writing, Rich!