Swanton Morley Bell Ringers | Interested in Learning?

The ringers of All Saints have always made it their mission to make sure that the bells are rung prior to every Sunday service held at All Saints as well as for concerts and other events held in the church and for the biggest percentage of the year we have been able to achieve this thanks to a dedicated team of ringers who give up their time readily to ring for special events. However the last few months we have found it hard to have a full band for Sundays, due other commitments the ringers have.

We are therefore asking people to come forward to learn how to ring and become part of our established band, so that over time we can build a group of ringers who will be able to take turns in ringing on a Sunday for the services. You do not need to: be musical, attend church regularly or be strong, all you need to be is: healthy, able to count, and committed. You will be shown the ropes by Aaron, Sarah or Brian who will guide you through the early stages of bell handling to ringing with the rest of the band.

The following section is to give you an overview of the learning process you will go through in learning to bell ring at All Saints.

So if after reading this you want to learn to ring either contact Tower Captain Aaron Hall through our contact page or visit us in the bell tower on a Friday Practice Night.

How long does it take to learn?
This is a question people always ask but it is one of the most difficult to answer! In a sense you are constantly learning to bell ring as learning to handle the bell is just the beginning, as you will read further on in this section.

To begin with you will be taught on a one-to-one basis until you are ready to ring with the rest of the band. The time it takes people to learn how to control the bell varies on each learner. Some people can pick it up within a few weeks whilst others may take longer, all learners develop at their own pace.

What are the stages of learning to bell ring?
All new recruits will go through the same basic stages to learning to bell ring. These stages are outlined below:

Stage 1-Bell handling:
Bell ringing consists of two strokes, the handstroke and the backstroke (see photos), so the first stage for any learner is to learn how to handle the bell safely and with enough control to start and stop the bell at will as well as control the speed of the bell. This is down in the following stages:

Stage 1A-

Sate 1B-

Stage 1C-

Stage 2- Ringing with others
Once you have learned to ring both stroke together and can ring them confidently without help you can move on to ringing with others. You will start off by following another ringer at a steady interval. You may also be followed by a bell to get a feel to have bells either side off you until you a ringing rounds with all six bells.

Stage 3- Call changes
Once you can ring in rounds, where all the bells ring in order from 1 to 6, you will learn to ring call changes. This is when a conductor calls different pairs of bells to swap places. Call changes are an important part of ringing. Not only do they get used to moving the place of the bell you are ringing but it is what is rung prior to services and for weddings. Swanton Morley try to pride themselves on ringing well struck rounds and call changes.

Stage 4 -Method ringing and beyond...
Once you have learned to ring rounds and call changes you will learn to ring methods. This is when each bell is moving at the same time without a conductor telling you. Ringers have to memorise and practice sequences of changes.