RINGING THE CHANGES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 301, 29 March 1945, Page 18

RINGING THE CHANGES

Bells in Peace and War

OU might as well try to imagine the period of. silent prayer from the NBS at 9 p.m. without its organ prelude as without the notes of Big Ben, or Christchurch without its Avon as without its church bells pealing out on a Sunday morning: Bells play a considerable part in the everyday life of New Zealand. A notable victory in war time is a signal for ringing and it is quite likely that ringers are already practising for the peals that will be heard.when the United Nations’ victory and the "Cease Fire" are announced... A correspondent asked The Listener the other day about the recordings of bells. He wanted to know why, as he put it, many recordings were "mere jangles of sound." So our bell editor and his pet bell-wether went along to the people who should know about these things and learned a lot. He discovered that a good bell, properly struck, should give out two distinct notes-the strike note, or key of the bell, and the hum note. Unlike the sounds of piano strings, which have dampers, bell notes linger, one running into the other. Other tones are present, but are not "annoying to the ear if the bell is correctly made. The hum note should be a major sixth below the strike note. For instance, the great bell (Great Peter) cast for St. Paul’s, London, has not all its tones in true harmony, but that cast by the same founders for Beverley Minster is in perfect tune. _Of almost any sound known to man the record library of the NBS has a sample, including a wide range of bells. Big) Ben is there, of course, and so are records of the famous Stedman Caters, and the Bells of Jerusalem-recorded at the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, by the NBS Unit-to merition only three examples. a A Quaint Art The history of bells and bellringing is full of romantic interest. It also contains names and terms of which only a _- paratively few people in New Zealand have any real idea, though Dorothy ‘Sayers’s novel The Nine Tailors must must have done a good deal to spread some knowledge of the art. A well-known New Zealand bell-ringer tells of a record peal of Stedman Caters: he heard in England and ‘in which 21,363 changes were rung on 10 bells in 12 hours 25 minutes. This was at Appleton, Berkshire. Even better, though, was a peal of Stedman Caters of 18 bells-~ 18,027 changes in 12 hours 18 minutes. This was at Loughborough, where the bells were double the weight, the tenor being 30cwt. to Appleton’s .1442cwt. The performance was said at the time to be the first in which one set of men rang the clock round. The longest peal is belieyed to have been in 1761. This consisted of 40,320 changes to Bob Major, which was the full extent of the changes which could be ‘made on eight bells. It took 27 hours and called for 14 men ringing in relays. The conductor, James Barham, lived to be 93. He had rung his last peal at 88. A sharp, pencil and a large sheet of paper are necessary to go thoroughly into this business. The number of possible

changes on any given series of bells may be ascertained according to the mathe--matical formulae of combinations and pefmutations. But the great physical strain on the ringers, to say nothing of the effect on these within hearing, makes long performance exceptional. Freak peals have been rung for wagers. One was on hand-bells in which John Nock rang 1 to 2 in the parlour, John Brebney rang 3 to 4 in the brewhouse, Sam Lawrence rang 5 to 6 upstairs, and Thomas Clewson rang 7 to 8 in the cellar. Presumably Uncle Tom . Cobley and all were listening in. Change-ringing, the favourite method of the English ringers, has been practised for the last four centuries. It is the art of pealing the bells so as to produce an entire re-arrangement of their

order at every round. Thus, in changeringing, the bell which leads off the peal gradually works down, step by step, to the last place, and vice versa. Laymen visiting a belfry enter a little world of its own. That in the Christchurch Cathedral is a good example:° almost the only things missing are the bats. Visitors sometimes like to take a hand with the bell-ringing. Their first mistake is in imagining that the thick, coloured patt of the bell-rope-the "sally’-is meant to be firmly gripped. A novice may be hauled by a bell many feet off the floor, release his grip in fright, and take a tumble; or he might get his feet tangled in the coils of rope which drop on the ‘floor as the bell turns ‘over. Beer for Ye Bellringers Bells are responsible for a lot. In earlier days they summoned soldiers to arms as well as Christians to church. Many a bloody chapter in history has been rung in and out by the same bells which’ called worshippers to divine service. Records of bell-ringing activities in New Zealand do not go back very far, but English church records contain some curiosities-such items as "Beere and {continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) Ale for Ye Bellringers." Long ago every church had its drinking pitcher for the special use of local ringers. One of these interesting curios made in the 16th century is carefully preserved in the parish church of Witney, in Oxfordshire. It holds no fewer than 16 quarts, the neck alone taking one. Apparently a thirsty hobby, this bellringing.