To think this level of bellringing is taking the piss (lighthearted)

[Oxfordst]

First of all YES I KNOW the church was here about a thousand years before my flat and anyone who lives within about a quarter of a mile from a church should expect to hear the bells, however - the bells are rung for ages on a Sunday (normal) ages on a Saturday for weddings (normal) and then from 7-9pm, so for two hours at a time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

AIBU in thinking this is slightly excessive? It wouldn't be so bad if they were good, but, and there's no nice way of saying it, the bell ringers are not very good at it. Completely out of time resulting in a horrible discordant clashy cacophony. You'd think with all that practice they'd be better but they're by far the worst I've ever heard. It's also a disproportionately huge church for the small town I live in so the bells are fucking massive and extra loud!

Church bells are not meant to play a tune, they get rung in a mathematical order.

I used to ring bells and your Tuesdays/Thursdays sound like practice nights. It also takes time for bells to be rung up for playing and rung down afterwards. In my local church, there are ten bells, and the heaviest bell needs two people to ring up or down. It can take a while.

I've lived next to churches a few times and honestly these ones are not good. They sound like they're ringing every bell at once.

Are you in the UK. The most zealous bell ringing I've experienced is in Germany at Easter whenever I've been visiting family there at that time. It goes on and on and just when you think it's tailing off, starts with renewed vigour. I'm not sure how you get used to bell ringing other than noise cancelling headphones. It's a problem.

I often wish we had a bell ringing culture like other parts of Europe.

Yes UK. The loveliest bells I ever heard were in Amsterdam in the huge cathedral in the centre. They were so melodic compared to the ones here

I think part of the problem is that the bell ringing is only as good as the bell ringers. In the church I rang at, they were good (I just decided I didn't want to do it any more). But it's something that doesn't really attract new people, and you need a good leader to get a group ringing well.

I live near a church we have about the same amount ...I love it

I've been too scared to start this very post myself. I completely understand a Sunday, and sure ok a midweek practise (but why at almost ten at night two nights a week?!?!?!?!? I also live about 2 miles from the church but we are both on hills facing each other so I don't escape.
Church bells can sound lovely when they are in time though.

As a former bellringer I can promise you without those two midweek practices the godawful, disjointed, inept clattering you'd be subjected to every Sunday would make what you've got now sound like fairies dancing on a tiny, tiny xylophone. In ballet slippers.

Git I know, I was expecting loads of people to immediately say 'well what do you expect if you buy a flat by a church' but it's just such a horrible noise, not in time at all
and I can't imagine who's getting any pleasure out of it.

mumonashoestring

occasionally the ones near DBs sound vaguely melodic. Most of the time it sounds like a group of tone deaf people have found themselves in the belfry and decided to have a bash at it. Because I don't live there it's a lovely novelty for me. If I was there permanently I'm not sure how I'd deal with it.

On a serious note, does the bell tower have any shutters? Some have shutters that can be closed for practice to muffle the sound, then opened up for services to give it the full beans.

What if the shutters are actually now closed and they then decided to open them?? Oh god

Maybe safer not to check

I have lived near churches/cathedrals and never noticed these two hours sessions you are describing. Can't they use some kids be of silencers or something? I can imagine that it would be good for the bell ringers' hearing either-maybe that's why they are so s

This thread has cheered up my Sunday morning

When I was ringing bells, we were 2 floors below the actual bells, and the thick stone actually muffled the sound somewhat, they never sounded quite so loud as they do outside.

Also helps that I'm partly deaf anyway, since birth

Raspberry maybe the best place for me is in there with them then!

DH is a bell ringer and rings Sunday mornings, sometimes Saturdays for weddings and Wednesday evenings for 2 hours. If they didn’t have the practise sessions they’d be even worse! There’s not really any other option for bell ringing practise except to ring bells!

I did bell ringing about 20 years ago so I can't remember the terms, but the all playing at once was something to do with getting the bells up or down. Then new people have to learn how to ring them. It isn't a case of just pulling. You have to pull them down, the rope goes up but you have to make sure it's the right amount of pull so they can stay at the top. Then come down again and stay. Can take a bit of practise to get it right. We did Saturday weddings, Sunday mornings and two or three hours Wednesday evening. I don't recall any complaints in the time I was there,

As someone who used to rent a flat about 100 metres from a bell tower - I FEEL YOU!

I quite liked the wake up call on the weekend tbh, but they went absolutely ape shit one New Years. 90 minutes of bells from 12am onwards, I definitely could've killed someone that night.

The Oxbridge contingent will remember every College chapel ringing the bells on Sunday morning. You could like it or you could lump it. It was going to happen either way.