bells – Page 6 – Friends of St Mary's Hawkesbury

Tower Repairs

The face of St Mary’s has been covered up for the first time in many years as the structural repairs to the tower are started. The scaffolding will be in place until early in the near year.

Progress Report on New Bells

The new peal of eight bells has been cast and will be taken out of the casts in the next few days. Photos to follow! The bells will then be brought over to England to be tuned before they are hung over the winter.

This Month’s Services

The church is now open again for services, and this month’s rota is as follows:

2nd – 9.30am – Morning Prayer

6th – 9.30am – Holy Communion

9th – 9.30am – Morning Prayer

13th – 6pm – Evensong

16th – 9.30am – Morning Prayer

20th – 9.30am – Morning Praise

23rd – 9.30am – Morning Communion

27th – 6pm – Evensong

Colin Dixon, who organises the training for St Mary’s bell ringers, ready for when our new bells are installed, reports on a wonderful new piece of kit.

With very grateful thanks to John Appleby, the Friends of St Mary’s have acquired a dumb bell. This is a framework with a bell wheel and a weight instead of a bell. It doesn’t make a noise, but acts in exactly the same way as a church bell. It is an excellent training and practice device.

The dumb bell will reside at Severn View Farm on Inglestone Common and is available for both bell ringers and others to try their hand at ringing a church bell without the climb into the tower – or the noise.

Everyone is welcome to have a go. Age is no barrier. However, youngsters need to be tall enough to reach the rope properly. This means around eight years old or avoe.

When the new bells are installed n the church tower, the dumb bell will join them as a silent practice device.

Like to train as a bell ringer for St Mary’s? Please call Colin Dixon on 01454 299236 or email him.