The Drama of the Cracked Stay!

There was some drama at the practice night tonight as the stay on number 5 dropped out whilst it was being run by a new learner, Lee Fox. During the early stages of learning the new ringing learns to ring one  of the strokes at a time with the tutor keeping hold of the rope at all times. Whilst Lee was ringing the handstroke with Brian the stay dropped out (its not really supposed to do this!). Brian safely got the bell back down so the stay could be retrevied. Upon inspection we learnt that the stay had rotten through however it was impossible to see this on routine inspections. 

A New Practice at All Saints

A new monthly practice started at All Saints today. Ringers from towers in surrounding villages came together to focus on one specific method. This month the focus was Grandshire Doubles. It is hoped that this practice will become a regular fixture in the monthly calendar at All Saints.

Ring out the old and Ring in the New

The ringers of Swanton Morley took part in the age old tradition of ringing out the old Year and ringing in the New Year as friends and family watched on. The bells rung out for the last few minutes of 2011 before one by one standing, fading out along with the old year  leaving just the tenor to strike  12 on the stroke of midnight. To welcome the new year all 6 bells pealed out in joyful celebration some extremely well struck rounds and call changes. The band was 1. Mark Tweedie, 2. Sarah Seaman, 3. Claire Willetts, 4. Helen Watson, 5. Ted Conyers, 6. Aaron Hall. After ringing the band, along with their families descended the tower to watch the numerous fireworks being set off around the village. 

Ring out the Old and Ring in the New

The ringers of Swanton Morley took part in the age old tradition of ringing out the old Year and ringing in the New Year as friends and family watched on. The bells rung out for the last few minutes of 2011 before one by one standing, fading out along with the old year  leaving just the tenor to strike 12 on the stroke of midnight. To welcome the new year all 6 bells pealed out in joyful celebration some extremely well struck rounds and call changes. The band was 1. Mark Tweedie, 2. Sarah Seaman, 3. Claire Willettes, 4. Helen Watson, 5. Ted Conyers, 6. Aaron Hall. After ringing the band, along with their families descended the tower to watch the numerous fireworks being set off around the village.

Bells Ring Out To Remember

The All Saints Swanton Morley Bell Ringers joined the rest of the nation in remembering those servicemen and woment who have lost their lives in conflict. Prior to Swanton Morley Church's Service of Remembrance the bells rang half muffled. After the wreath laying ceremony the ringers rang once again as the congregation left the grounds and solders from Robertson Barracks marched back to the church. The ringers who take part were Aaron Hall, Celia Barker, Ted Conyers, Mark Tweedie, Helen Watson, Claire Willetts, Chris Brown, Ayslon Booth and Brian Laing.

...and On

Last month routine maintenance was carried out on the six bells of All Saints. Whilst this routine maintenance took place a question arose about how the clappers should sit inside the bells. After Brian conducted some enquiries it appeared that all the clappers were positioned in the bells wrong. So Brian and Aaron returned up the tower to carry out some more work. In the worse cases some of the clappers were out of place by over 5 inches. After several hours of work the clappers were all repositioned. The test came the following practice night when the band got to ring the bells again! Everyone commented on the vast improvement of the bells and how different they sounded. The only negative point was that work needs to be carried out on the third clapper as the bearings are starting to go. 

The Maintenance goes on....

You may have heard the bells of All Saints ringing for a few minutes on Thursday last week and this afternoon. This is as we have been carry out some routine maintenance on the bells of All Saints. A huge thanks goes out to Brian Laing who gave up his time to help Aaron look over the bells and make sure everything is ok with the bells. Apart from a few nuts and bolts needing tightening everything seems ok!