A village church’s bell ringing has reached heights it hasn’t known for many years.
The regular ringers at St Nicholas Church, Hurst, rang a quarter peal lasting for 45 minutes last Friday. The feat was celebrated with a drink afterwards at The Castle Inn opposite the church.
The band’s tower captain Graham Slade of Woodley, said: “This was the first quarter peal by a Hurst band for many years. It’s indicative that bell ringing in Hurst is once more in a healthy state.
“We had a while when we didn’t have so many ringers. Numbers have gradually increased and so has the strength of the band.
“I was absolutely thrilled with the quarter peal. It needs a lot of concentration and mental effort to keep in the right place for that amount of time. They did really, really well.”
For Chantal Roberts on the tenor bell it was her first quarter peal. Duncan Kendall rang his first quarter peal away from the tenor bell. This time he rang the loudest bell, the treble, which is a little more complex to ring.
Simon Roberts rang his first quarter peal ringing a method called Plain Bob Doubles, along with the other three members of the band, Sue and Graham Slade and Simon Farrar.
Residents have said how much they enjoyed the bells. They have another big treat in store on Saturday, January 13 from 10am when a band is attempting a full peal lasting three hours at Hurst.
The last full peal there was about five years ago.
Nigel Mellor will be the conductor, ringing along with two others from All Saints, Wokingham, John Harrison and David Maynard.
Also in the band will be Graham Slade, Simon Farrar, Nicola Lee from Barkham, and two young ringers – one from Arborfield and the other from Sonning.
Graham explained the aim: “We will be attempting to ring the method of Cambridge Surprise Major comprising a little over 5,000 changes of bell sequences and taking around three hours of continuous ringing to complete.
“This method is rung using all eight bells available at Hurst. The rules include that no bell sequence from the numbers 1, 2, …, 8 shall be repeated and the performance must start and end with ‘rounds’ which is the descending musical scale denoted by 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
“There are a few other rules to comply with including no stopping and no visual aids. It’s all done by keeping it in your head.” There will be no food and no ‘comfort’ breaks.
Graham reassured future ringers: “You learn how to ring by learning the component parts which makes it easier.”
Anyone interested in ringing can contact Graham on 07762 922 172.
