Enduring appeal of pealing bells

LETTERS FROM THE RINGING WORLD:Some churches might cheat with recorded bells, but others still have change ringers to create those glorious sounds

'We're a little short on numbers tonight," laments Ian. "Lesley is on his holidays, Vivian's gone salsa dancing. I'm not sure where Gayle's gotten herself to."

The belfry in Christ Church Cathedral is a wide, windowless room with carpeted floors and a high wooden ceiling. Through a series of small holes in the ceiling hang 19 long ropes that connect to 19 cast-iron bells in the bell chamber above, a world record for the largest number of bells that are rung full circle.

Gathered here on this warm Friday evening are half a dozen members of the Christ Church Cathedral Society of Change Ringers. ("The Secret Society!" quips one member, to general amusement.) If you've ever passed the cathedral and enjoyed the wonderful pealing of the bells, then these are the boffins responsible.

My introduction here comes courtesy of Dervilla McKeith, who meets me for coffee across the road in Jury's Hotel beforehand. McKeith is not a parishioner of the cathedral. In fact, she isn't even a member of the Church of Ireland. She got involved in 1999, when seven new bells were added ahead of the cathedral's millennium celebrations. At that time the society made an appeal in the media for new ringers to come forward. For McKeith, the hobby offers an opportunity not just for intellectual stimulation (the peals follow complex mathematical patterns), but also for physical exercise (the bells range from half a ton to 2¼ tons in weight).

She leads me across to the cathedral, through a side door and up a winding stone staircase to the belfry. Through the wall I can make out muffled tones of the church organ inside. The society was founded in 1670, says McKeith, and is currently under the direction of ringing master Ian Bell. He's actually called Bell?

"Yes, yes," she laughs. "People are always amused by that. But his predecessor was a Mr Taylor and, you know, Taylors is a very famous bell foundry in England. So, to us, that's even funnier."

We duck through a small arched doorway and into the brightly lit belfry, where 27-year-old Ronan, a student, is "ringing up" the bells before practice begins. The very personable Bell then leads his charges through a succession of rounds. Each bell is assigned a number based on its pitch. "Two to four," yells Bell. "Two to four!"

What's fascinating is that at no point in the entire exercise do the ringers come within sight of the bells. It's rather like praying to God, I suppose, except that in this case one can be a little more confident that there's something up there.

While the ringers run through their exercises, I leaf through the April edition of the Ringer's World. If I had any lazy preconceptions about change ringing folk, then I'm happy to report this delightful periodical fails to dispel a single one of them.

On page five, Beer Matters columnist Maximus Bibendus ruminates at some length on his collection of "nip" bottles (third of a pint) of ale. This week, he reports, he broached a 1987 bottle and was disappointed to find its contents dark, flat and lifeless. "It wasn't entirely wasted though - I added it to the gravy we had with our roast beef that night."

There is no formal structure to the practice, with ringers coming and going as they please throughout, and after an hour or so I have to leave myself. McKeith describes the Society of Change Ringers as representing a "slightly eccentric cross section of the public", and as I reluctantly take my leave of them, it would be hard to dispute that. But after hurriedly descending the 77 winding stone steps, I find myself lingering in the churchyard another couple of minutes to enjoy the glorious racket they're making, as the bells of Christ Church ring out high across the city.

"Alan Buswell's quarter peal analysis for 2007 made very interesting reading . . ."

"I receive my copy of Ringing World from our tower captain (in exchange for my Methodist Recorder!) . . ."

"We don't like being challenged. Many of the people around Jesus didn't like being challenged by him either. it is absolutely right that Rev Jones has raised the issue of belfry reform..."

"Might I suggest that the quarter peals continue to be published in their present form, but with the font used to record the method names in the multi-method peals changed . . ."

"The discussion continued after the AGM as we all proceeded to the pub . . ."