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View from the Tower…
In my work I meet many people who talk of wanting to be ‘present’, being alive in the moment and getting away from the myriad of things – To-do lists, worries, concerns, anxieties - which cycle through our minds endlessly. If this is what you seek, and I have tried meditation in search of it, then you really should try this! There is nothing which will keep you more absolutely in the moment than the concentration required to ring a bell in the tower and which rewards you with a wonderful, resonating sound which can be heard across north Oxford. There are 2 strokes, the back and hand stroke, and you start with learning one – the backstroke is marginally easier - and my coach, Ginny, stood next to me as I felt the weight of the bell for the first time, ready to catch it (the rope not the bell...) if it all went pear-shaped. It is an awesome feeling to try and control several hundred-weight of metal. Initially, you don’t work with a sounding bell – even Oxford on a Thursday night (practice night) doesn’t deserve the monotonous tolling which might suggest royalty has died – the clapper is tied so the bell doesn’t sound and mistakes can be made with a much more forgiving silent bell. Having mastered each of the strokes individually, combining them is a huge challenge to the uncoordinated amongst us, of which I count myself one, but it comes with practice, perseverance and encouragement. The glorious feeling of actually ringing a bell – again whilst your coach or other equally supportive member of the tower hovers protectively nearby – put me on a high which lasted days! Technically you ring the bell by bringing it off the point of balance, letting it swing through a full circle, and then bring it back onto the point of balance. When ready to ring the bell is pointing upwards at about 1 o’clock, and is ‘set’. The point of balance is at 12 o’clock, and the ringer can hold it there indefinitely. The trick is with each ring, using the back and hand strokes, to get it back to that point of balance from which it can be controlled. Ringing in rounds is when the bells are rung in descending sequence; there are 8 at St Giles, and as a novice I get to do this and did so within only a few weeks of starting. Through the handbells, which are also in use on Thursday nights, I have been introduced to simple changes – Plain Hunting to those in the know – where you change position of your bell in the ringing sequence by regularly swapping places with the bell ringing next to you. This, at least initially, is a much more accessible way to get to grips with ringing changes. There are some fantastic named methods of ringing complex changes which are rung by the more experienced ringers and to which I aspire. Reverse Canterbury Pleasure Bob Doubles springs to mind as well as Stedman Triples. Lovely resonating terms to conjure with, but as yet a foreign language. Ringing is physical and can be quite challenging – the first Sunday in the month sees the Quarter Peal which is a continuous 40 minute peal. Dermot Roaf, the tower captain, keeps us busy and choreographs the whole thing, aided by John Pusey. In the tower are plaques to earlier major peals. On 16th Jan 1930 the Oxford Society of Change Ringers rang Double Norwich Court Bob Major which included 5,184 changes and took 3 hours and 10 minutes. Queen Victoria’s death was commemorated with Kent Treble Bob Minor (720 changes) in 1901which took 27 minutes and was rung with half muffled bells – the clapper is fitted with something akin to a skateboarder’s knee pad on one side. More recently the retirement after 28 years of the previous tower captain, Philip Walker, was marked by the ringing of 5,040 changes in Grandsire Triples. This was also John’s daughter Rachel’s first peal. Ringing has also given me a chance to see St Giles in a
different way. To be in the church at dusk, to climb up and behind the organ on
the narrow ladders which lead to the tower and take in the view from the tower
itself across Oxford. On Thursday nights the practice mingles with the aroma of
garlic and ginger from the Chinese restaurant on the Woodstock Rd, a smell I
will now always associate with bell ringing! The ringers at St Giles are a very interesting, eclectic and varied bunch of people and cover a wide age range and have many, many years’ experience between them ringing at St Giles and other towers in Oxford, London and around the country. Ringing is an exceptionally sociable activity and other towers are very welcoming. New blood is essential to the continued ringing at St Giles
and beginners are always welcome. You don’t have to wait until you are past the
first flush as ringers can start in their early teens and, like me, you will
experience great coaching, support and encouragement from the other members of
the tower. Laura Cairns |
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There is an
adage somewhere about new tricks and old dogs. I was always suspicious of it, my
mother being a very adventurous lady in her 70s, and now feel I can put it to
rest once and for all. I took up bell ringing with St Giles some 4 months ago at
the ripe old age of 43.