The bellringing team at Eckington Church recently won two striking competitions held by the Southern Branch of the Worcester Diocesan Association of Bellringers with teams from Bredons Norton, Great Comberton and Pershore coming second.
Kath Cocks, member of the Eckington Team said: “Both competitions were very close and we were especially pleased because some of the ringers hadn’t been ringing for very long. Eckington, Bredons Norton and Great Comberton are all part of the Bredon Hill group of churches and often ring together for different services, so it was great that we all did so well!”
Most bellringers in the Diocese are affiliated with the Worcestershire and Districts Change Ringing Association, which is split into three branches. Each branch runs a striking competition annually with judges listening out for how evenly spaced the bells are rung. Teams are marked down if the bells clash or sound too close together and the team with the fewest faults wins.
The Southern branch competition was held at Stoulton Church in November where there are six bells which sound lovely and are relatively easy to ring. Teams competed for two trophies: The Ron Daniels Trophy is a change ringing competition where teams have to have learnt a method (a pattern which defines the order the bells must ring in) and the Bill Berry Trophy is a call change competition in which the conductor calls out the order the bells should ring in. For the call change competition, there must be at least one less experienced ringer who hasn’t yet learnt to ring a method.
“One of the members of our Eckington Team was age 16 and only learnt to ring a few months ago,” said Kath. “And in the Great Comberton team, three of the ladies had only learnt to ring last year. We do quite a lot of teaching at Eckington so were proud of all those who had done well!”
“Bellringing is a lovely way to be involved in church,” Kath continued. “As long as you’re relatively fit, it’s a great thing to learn to do at any age. It does also help if you have good reaction times and a sense of rhythm.
Every set of bells is slightly different and once you’ve learnt, it’s possible to go round the country and ring bells in other churches. All towers would be keen to have new people joining them, either speak to your Vicar who can put you in touch with the Tower Captain or visit the Association of Ringing Teachers website (https://ringingteachers.org/) which gives a list of qualified bell ringing teachers in the local area."
Allison Davies, Vicar in the Bredon Hill Group of churches said: “We are so blessed to have this wonderful team of bellringers in our village community, and their success is well deserved. To hear the church bells ringing is a beautiful and focal part of our village life, and we are so grateful to all who commit their time to bringing so much pleasure to our community.”
