there was a post on here a while back with a link

[robgil]

to a video of a bis load of (cnd?) protesters being held by the police , at least i think it was on here.
ring any bells?

 

[17c_lancs]

I think the film you're thinking of is 'Taking Liberties'.

And yes, I was once an active campanologist.

 

[Feltwell]

And yes, I was once an active campanologist.

Fancy a job? The church 200 yards from my house only has one bell, known locally as the "gruel bell" for it's sombre tone. I've no idea how difficult it is to ring a bell but whoever does it every Sunday makes a bloody awful job of it - completely irregular timing and lots of small rings inbetween much larger ones.

How difficult is it to ring a single bell in consistent timing?

 

[17c_lancs]

Thanks for the offer Feltwell, but I'm rather busy excavating my floors for limecrete at present.

It's not particularly difficult to ring in time, but it does take practise.

A single bell should be easiest of all - it sounds as if this bell is being rung in a haphazard manner in the 'down' position. It takes a little more skill to ring a bell properly in the 'up' position from resting on its stay, but is easier, once mastered, to stay in time.

Of course, when other ringers are introduced all hell can break loose, which is never a good thing in church, but even tower novitiates can soon master a 'Plain Hunt'.

And that leads us onto another contentious debate entirely...

 

[FamilyWiggs]

"Shh. Don't mention The Hunt. I did it once, but I think I got away with it".

:lol:

 

[Penners]

Basil!

 

[Flyfisher]

. . . so that's two egg mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering and four Colditz salads :lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAi7DYHA94

 

[robgil]

thank you , a brilliant documentary , and no mention of the war either.

 

[worms]

How difficult is it to ring a single bell in consistent timing?

I also did a long period ringing a single bell - taught by the bell-ringer before me who was taught by the bell-ringer before him and so on... Last time I heard it ring it was a real mess, clearly only using the one side of the bell and therefore not working up to the natural pendulum rhythm that the old bell was used to and where a single bell works most efficiently (which I would imagine is very different from the required action in proper multiple-bell campanology). If the bell is just going "ding"..pause..."ding" rather than "ding dong" then that will be the problem!

But you can't get the staff these days - how many teenage boys nowadays would get out of bed on a Sunday morning to work 12 minutes for £1.50?!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

How difficult is it to ring a single bell in consistent timing?

I also did a long period ringing a single bell - taught by the bell-ringer before me who was taught by the bell-ringer before him and so on... Last time I heard it ring it was a real mess, clearly only using the one side of the bell and therefore not working up to the natural pendulum rhythm that the old bell was used to and where a single bell works most efficiently (which I would imagine is very different from the required action in proper multiple-bell campanology). If the bell is just going "ding"..pause..."ding" rather than "ding dong" then that will be the problem!

But you can't get the staff these days - how many teenage boys nowadays would get out of bed on a Sunday morning to work 12 minutes for £1.50?!

That reminds me of one of my favourite Radio 4 quotes ever (even against stiff competition from "I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue"), from, I think, the Today programme when the EU introduced new regulations about electronic goods and recycling, especially when said goods contained lead, which it seemed would have an effect on electrically-operated church organs -
Elderly organist: "it's unlikely we can go back to the days when you could get a boy off the street to blow you for an hour on Sunday morning for sixpence a time"