Published: Thursday, 21st August, 2008 12:00
Retro: Hand ringing the changes
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BACK in April on this page we had a photograph of the bell-ringers of St Giles’s Church, on an outing to Appleton in 1920.
Here they are again, at about the same time, to judge from the personnel, most of whom are recognisable from the previous photograph, though here they are without their wives, girlfriends, sisters and daughters.
They are on home territory, by the church in Southampton Street.
Two of the most striking things about the photograph are that at the time, only men practised campanology, and the formality of the men’s clothes.
All in their three-piece suits, collars and ties, they presumably knew that the photographer was coming.
At first I didn’t think that the picture was of any great interest – until I looked at the foreground, and noticed the set of handbells. I realised I had never heard the handbells played, and began to wonder whether this was a lost art.
This photograph, and others in the centenary history of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, show that many, if not all, teams of ringers had a set of hand-bells. I believe they used them to practise change ringing without having to climb the tower.
But handbells could be used in a different way, to play tunes for entertainment. Each player could hold two bells, and since with a set of eight bells you could make two or more sounds at once, you could create harmonies. I expect church bell-ringers were called upon to play tunes on the handbells at church concerts, and at fund-raising events.
Please get in touch if you know about handbells. My own ears tell me that on Sundays and practice nights, the church bells in Reading are still making music – but do the ringers still use handbells as well?
- Contact Retro on 0118 963 3152 or email news@readingchronicle.co.uk
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