Church bells

[Isxmasoveryet]

Am i being unreasonable to think churches should not be aloud to ring those damn bells for hours on end a few times a week it not very christain disturbing neighbours etc for several hours

Maybe people shouldn't be allowed to post such utterly miserable sentiments

Bought not brought

Bought= buy
BRought = bring

I love hearing church bells but not at 8am or 5 hours solid at a time. That would dirve me bonkers too.

As a bell ringer I struggle to believe that they rang for 5.5 hours non-stop. The normal maximum, which is the exception rather than the norm, is a peal which would be 3 hours long. I know no ringers who would be able to ring for that long (or want to). Occasionally very dedicated ringers do strange things but in places chosen where it won’t cause upset - churches in London with few local residents nearby, Oxford where there are bells ringing all the time from different churches, towers in isolated rural settings with no neighbours other than cows.

The norm is 1-1.5 hours practice per week on a set day and at a set time, and 45 minutes before a service on Sundays.

Our bells ring for about 20 minutes before each morning service - not continuously before, during and after!

During practices, they silence the bells (somehow). You can't hear anything from outside, but do hear a thumping inside the church, which you get used to the minute you realise what it is.

We have ringing for weddings, but again, just about 10-20 minutes before and after the service.

The long rings are peals, which take place on Saturday mornings about 4 times a year. It seems to be a national, competitive thing. These last for 3 hours, and use all 10 of our bells.

Funnily enough, almost all of our ringers are not Christian, including the tower captain. There is only one that regularly comes into the service, and is fully immersed in the life of the church.

The secret is to join them. The bells are much quieter inside the tower than outside. We are always on the lookout for new recruits.

Actually op that’s a brilliant idea. It’s quite fun - and not bad exercise.

During practices, they silence the bells (somehow). You can't hear anything from outside, but do hear a thumping inside the church, which you get used to the minute you realise what it is.
they're 'muted' by putting pads inside the bells

Yes. I think a lot of people are confusing bell ringing from a church with a clock, which may or may not have anything to do with the church, sounding the hours. The clock will be mechanical and could probably be silenced between certain hours.

Sorry, but our bell ringers did exactly that yesterday!
I've never heard them play a tune before, which is why it drew my attention and made my smile when I recognised it as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

we used to have a church bell that chimed the hour through the night near us. I used to find it a comforting sound when I couldn't sleep.
Then someone got it stopped.

It is unusual for church bells to ring throughout the Sunday morning services. Talking to the vicar or priest in charge to understand why it's 8am to 11am each Sunday may be worth doing but as others have said, learning how to ring the bells yourself may be another solution!

Sorry, but our bell ringers did exactly that yesterday!
I've never heard them play a tune before, which is why it drew my attention and made my smile when I recognised it as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
well, you learn something every day!
I didn't think that was possible.

I'm not saying that they did it perfectly, but it definitely improved as they went along ☺

Never known bell ringing practice last more than 2 hours one evening per week and tends to be for 15 minutes before the main service. Periodically they will be rung as an event but not every week. If it's only one week you have been there perhaps it was a special occasion?

Are people really confusing bell ringing with the clock chiming?! They are 2 completely different things!

Twinkle twinkle and three blind mice are (I think) the only ‘tunes’ that are played in bells

https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/fs_notes.pdf

There is often a lot of confusion between clock chiming and bellringing.

typically, a church clock has a little hammer that strikes the outside of 1-3 of the church bells, controlled by a mechanism. When bell ringers are ringing, the ringers take the hammers off to allow the bells to be rung. What people outside hear then is the clapper hitting the inside of the bell (much louder).

Bellringers ring “ methods.”

If someone tried to get the Church clock stopped in my village, they'd be given a very severe short shrift. Then they would be laughed at behind their back. (And the clock would NOT be stopped!) 😆 It's always a townie who knows fuck-all about country life, and thinks their desires outweigh everyone else in the village who complains about the Church bells/the Church clock.

The Church bell moaners are almost always the same ones who moan about cows moo-ing, sheep baa-hing, and the tractors and combine harvesters going on til 10 or 11 at night some months of the year. And they whine when they're told they can't let off their fireworks because there is so much livestock on the farms. These people are utterly clueless and supremely ignorant about rural life.

(Not saying all 'townies' are moany clueless whingers by the way, and many are considerate and intelligent, and understand that life is totally different in a rural village than it is in a town or city. But if someone IS going to gripe about something, it's always someone who has moved into a rural area from a town or city!)

.

Last Sunday was Remembrance Sunday, so it might have been a bit longer than usual. The day that the country remembers those not fortunate enough to survive War, that left loved ones behind while they fought/died to keep the country safe. Ask for some earplugs, or get some noise cancelling headphones as suggested.

I love church bells. YABU. We don't want to loose the art of change ringing as it's unique to Britain.

Here is a suggestion ... join the bellringers as a volunteer, learn a new skill and improve your social life and access to the community.

...Anyone made a joke about winning the No Bell Peace Prize?

(Sorry OP, YABU).

Might they be automated bells?