May. 8th, 2023 at 8:46 PM
Coronation Day Bells
So what did I do on the Coronation Day of King Charles III and Queen Camilla? I rang an ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE BELL!
Here it is, that elephantine bell in the middle: it's called the Hosanna bell, it hangs at Buckfast Abbey, and it weight seven and a half tonnes (or eleven tonnes, if you count the fittings). As soon as I heard about it, I had it on my bucket list as my Top Bell to Ring and what a day to do it! At a certain point, they said, okay, that is enough ringing, and the most fun bit was getting it to stop more quickly, because I could hang on to the rope and let it take me a little ways toward the ceiling.
Here's the ringing group (organised by Geoff Pring from Buckfast and Robert Law from Bovey Tracey). Stuart took the picture, and they let him have a go at chiming one of the bells, too. We had twelve bells going all at once, plus the Hosanna, and the whole tower was shaking.
See that guy in the wheelchair, that's Mike Wigney, who's the best ringer in Bovey Tracey and who's been teaching me. I said I'd go wherever Mike went for Coronation Day, because he knows everyone and he's a lot of fun, chatting away on the car journeys. I thought he might do two or three towers, but he put NINE towers on our schedule and I thought, if Mike can do it, so can I. We only managed eight towers in the end because we couldn't get between them fast enough, but we rang everything from the massive bells at Buckfast to the single bell at little Leusdon church, on a bell that might not have been rung since the Silver Jubilee. It's basically in a broom cupboard, between a file cabinet and a safe, and not the easiest thing to handle, but Peter, Stuart, Mike and I all rang it. (Then Peter and Mike tried out the organ.)
In all, we rang at Bickington, Buckfast Abbey (where Geoff kindly provided party food and a big-screen telly for us to watch the ceremony), Leusdon, Bovey Tracey, Lustleigh (for ten minutes!), Manaton, North Bovey and Mortenhampstead, before going to the pub. Sarah and Philip Reeve and their dog, Frodo, met us at Manaton and Sarah took this photo. (Thanks, Sarah!) All in all, it was a great way to spend the Coronation Day, thanks to all the ringers for making it so much fun!
Here it is, that elephantine bell in the middle: it's called the Hosanna bell, it hangs at Buckfast Abbey, and it weight seven and a half tonnes (or eleven tonnes, if you count the fittings). As soon as I heard about it, I had it on my bucket list as my Top Bell to Ring and what a day to do it! At a certain point, they said, okay, that is enough ringing, and the most fun bit was getting it to stop more quickly, because I could hang on to the rope and let it take me a little ways toward the ceiling.
Here's the ringing group (organised by Geoff Pring from Buckfast and Robert Law from Bovey Tracey). Stuart took the picture, and they let him have a go at chiming one of the bells, too. We had twelve bells going all at once, plus the Hosanna, and the whole tower was shaking.
See that guy in the wheelchair, that's Mike Wigney, who's the best ringer in Bovey Tracey and who's been teaching me. I said I'd go wherever Mike went for Coronation Day, because he knows everyone and he's a lot of fun, chatting away on the car journeys. I thought he might do two or three towers, but he put NINE towers on our schedule and I thought, if Mike can do it, so can I. We only managed eight towers in the end because we couldn't get between them fast enough, but we rang everything from the massive bells at Buckfast to the single bell at little Leusdon church, on a bell that might not have been rung since the Silver Jubilee. It's basically in a broom cupboard, between a file cabinet and a safe, and not the easiest thing to handle, but Peter, Stuart, Mike and I all rang it. (Then Peter and Mike tried out the organ.)
In all, we rang at Bickington, Buckfast Abbey (where Geoff kindly provided party food and a big-screen telly for us to watch the ceremony), Leusdon, Bovey Tracey, Lustleigh (for ten minutes!), Manaton, North Bovey and Mortenhampstead, before going to the pub. Sarah and Philip Reeve and their dog, Frodo, met us at Manaton and Sarah took this photo. (Thanks, Sarah!) All in all, it was a great way to spend the Coronation Day, thanks to all the ringers for making it so much fun!