Ringers

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St. Mary's ringers

Who we are

We are a mixed group, male and female, of various ages - some at school, some at work, others retired, various occupations and widely differing levels of experience - from those who started ringing last year to those who have been ringing for many years.

Sadly there aren't enough of us. The bells sound best will all 8 being rung - which requires at least 8 ringers to be present. But most Sunday's there aren't enough of us available. Why don't you join us and help keep this English tradition alive? - read on for more information about learning

We are members of the Mere Branch of the Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers.

When we ring

For services and special occasions

We ring regularly at 9.30am for the 10am Sunday morning Eucharist, as well as for some other major festivals (e.g. Ascension Day, 7pm for a 7.30pm service) and other Holy Days and special services, when enough of us are available.

We also ring for weddings and occassionally for funerals - work makes the latter difficult so mostly only for ringers funerals or maybe other people connected with St. Mary's.

For practice

For new ringers to learn and for the rest to imporve, practices are held most weeks, and in addition our bells are enjoyed by visitors on outings and the occasional "Open Day" when towers along a specified route are sequentially open, usually for an hour each (these days are held to raise money, normally for rings of bells needing restoring)

Interested in learning?

Why learn?

There are a variety of reasons why you may decide to learn:

Because you like to hear the bells and more ringers are needed to enable all the bells to be rung each Sunday
Beacuse you want to serve the Church
You would like a new hobby - and one that can offer you new challenges for years if you so wish
It's a good way of meeting people and enhancing your social life
To help keep an ancient tradition alive
If you travel around the country a lot you can always find a welcome in a nearby tower
Because it's fun!
To keep your mind agile

Whatever your reason you will be welcome - you don't have to attend St. Mary's, you may attend another Church or none, but you do need to be sympathetic to the fact that the main reason we ring is for Sunday service ringing and be willing to make this a priority on Sunday's.

The committment

Minimum

Nobody is available every week but you need to be able to ring:

most Mondays : 7.30pm - 9pm for practice night
most Sundays : 9.30am - 9.55am for service ringing (but expect it to be some months before you are ready to join in on a Sunday morning)

At the start learners have lessons separate from the other ringers; these are usually from 7pm on Monday before the main practice but can be arranged at a different time if this is not possible for a learner.

Maximum

Entirely up to you! Ringers regularly go to practices at other towers to increase their speed of progress, and you can also go to practice of the Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers. The Guild / Branch holds short courses and there are also residential courses you can attend, mostly over a long weekend, catering for a wide range of standards.

Whilst there is no substitute for practice, if you become a methods ringer you will need to study them from books and these days there are is also computer software you can use to aid your learning.

Age / fitness

Youngsters

We have no lower age limit but practically about 10 is the youngest age given the size of our bells. A younger child who has learnt to ring elsewhere may have no difficulty in ringing our bells (more effort is needed when first learning than by a more experienced ringer) The size of a child is a consideration but regardless they must be able to be sensible and remember the potential dangers. The latter applies particularly to when there are several youngsters at once - will they be able to remember where they are and not start playing around?

We need a parent's permission for a child to learn to ring and like a parent to come and see what they will be doing at the start.

At present several of the ringers are CRB checked; the stricter rules coming in in October 2009 will mean we need to re-think our policy with regard to youngsters.

At the other end

We have no upper limit but it would be unusual for someone to learn over the age 70.

Those who are already ringers may well carry on into their 90s and a couple of ringers have rung on their 100th birthdays so an older learner can still have a long ringing career ahead!

Like everything, though, particularly those skills involving co-ordination it is harder to learn when older - so do come, but don't expect rapid progress.

In many ways learning to ring is like learning to drive a car. At first there seem to be too many things to think about at once, and you may wonder if / how you will ever manage without help. But as you progress much becomes automatic leaving your mind free to cope with the variables.

Fitness

The most energy needed is to climb the 44 steps into the ringing room! At least, that's likely to be true once you are proficient and so long as you're not ringing the tenor.

Our bells vary in weight from about 6 to 24 cwt, but once a bell is "up" (mouth facing up) then if pulled off and left it would ring itself down, but would take some time doing so. Initially the energy required from you is not to pull it all the way around, but to stop the "dampening" that would result in it coming down. Just what this is is only learnt through skill acquired by practice, so learners inevitably need a bit more energy than experienced ringers.

Aptitude

If you can ride a bicycle or drive a car you have the co-ordination to ring
You don't need to be musical
You don't need to be good at maths (we do use numbers to represent the bells but they are labels - we could have used letters or names)
You do need to have a sense of rhythm
Listening to your bell is very important; if you aren't able to do this you can still ring but your ringing will be limited (don't let this put you off if you just want to become a Sunday service ringer)

Needless to say, experienced ringers new to Gillingham would be most welcome!

For more information

Please contact the Tower Captain, Paul Cumberland - tel. 01747 835170 or send an e-mail.

Visiting ringers

General ringing / quarter peals

We welcome visitors to join us or to come for general ringing on an outing or to ring a quarter peal. Unless something else is on we will almost always be able to accomodate you.

Peals

Peals are occasionally rung, generally to celebrate special occasions. Do enquire if you are interested, but we need to think about the close proximity of homes close to the tower and can't allow too many.

Join us for Sunday ringing or practice night

We almost always ring on Sunday and most Mondays, apart from Bank Holidays or when there is a service. At the time of writing Sunday ringing is generally on 5 to 8 bells, with practice night ringing mostly on 5 or 6 bells. Most of our ringing is call changes as several of the band are recent recruits, but others are method ringers so with you joining us we may manage some method ringing.

Entry to the Church

To join us on a practice night come to the West (tower) door for 7.30pm on a Monday. On a Sunday you may enter by any of the main doors but if you don't wish to stay for the service you are free to slip out of the West door.