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

Now is not the time (nor is it necessary) to mark people's posts

This is not a test

Now aged 52 I love the sound of church bells. However as an 18 year old, staying at my friends house after a night out. She stayed directly across from a church, hearing the bells after a heavy drinking session wasn’t good lol 😂

Oh do go away with your "times change" it's not just a religious statement it's part of our cultural heritage. Churches are more than just places of worship they're community centres and it's always been that way and still continues to be that way. I live very close to a church that's over 900 years old, it's beautiful. Every Sunday the surrounding roads are a nightmare to get round because their congregation is so large, and many of that congregation are families with children.

Their Christmas eve services for families don't even fit in the main place of worship, they stream it out into the hall and have 2 sessions and still they have more people pouring in. So no. Not all congregations are shrinking.

So this is a temporary situation for the OP thankfully.

@mrpotatocat so you never make mistakes then? Don't be a twat.

Just for the OP - just be grateful you don't have Hindus harmonising in the hallway

I live approximately four doors down from a church apparently filled with enthusiastic bell ringers. Sometimes I enjoy them. Sometimes not. They were here before me. I have also lived opposite a school which rented out to enthusiastic bag pipers, who practised for hours on end. With a newborn. Gives you a whole new appreciation for bell ringers.

For the regular times, could you just plan to be out on Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings?

The 7-10pm is pretty unreasonable in my view!

Would you love next to a mosque and complain about hearing the call to prayer - or is it just Christian sounds you don’t like. I live in a Muslim country (even though most of the UK isn’t Christian it is still the majority religion and part of cultural life not just religious) and would never dream of complaining about the noise.

Last Sunday was remembrance day, that might have been why the bells were ringing more. This is a day that holds deep meaning for a lot of people so you are being very unreasonable to complain about it.

Noise cancelling headphones and try to get support for your anxiety and I hope you situation improves soon.

Sometimes times change too quickly and we lose the core of what we are. Britain might be a more secular society but I think many of us would hope that patience and tolerance would still be core British traits. Accepting with good grace the traditions that have gone on for a thousand years and still mean very much to many of our neighbours would be an example of patience and tolerance.

In a world where we are constantly subjected to the noise of traffic, machinery, technology, other peoples' music etc, short periods of what some consider pleasurable sound from religious institutions (of any faith) are surely, in the most part, uplifting in comparison.

Well within the permitted time for noise though. I would have thought in a hostel other types of noise were more prominent and disruptive of the OPs peace and the bells a welcome respite from it.

Perhaps it will drown out the sound of your kids.

Would you love next to a mosque

Loving near any religious building is just plain disrespectful. Grave yards on the other hand are fair game.

Many people take comfort from the peel of the bells, one person's anxiety doesn't trump that of the others.
I too dislike the taped bells or any other religion's mechanical devices to get people through the door.

I have empathy as I lived near a cathedral for a while and everyone who visited said 'oh how lovely!' but like you, listening to hours of it drove me mad. The place was single glazed too!

As others have suggested, look at earplugs (3M E-A-Rsoft FX are brilliant) or some Loop earbuds that reduce the intensity of the noise.

With regards to your anxiety, try Headspace, Calm or free deep breathing YouTube videos. These have completely changed my life anxiety-wise.

All the best, I hope you can escape the bells soon.

I would expect 1 night a week is usually just 1 or 2 hours for practise.
Otherwise, the Sundays seem overly long.
Then I would expect weddings (the couple would probably have to pay extra).
I dont think many ring (toll) for funerals now (excdpt for the late Queen etc).
If it is a clock striking the hour, I used to find this quite comforting, if waking at night, I would know what time it is.
Persoanlly I find it rather sad that churche bells do not ring so often now.

I just don't believe that's happening, even with bellringers from elsewhere being attracted to the church. Bellringing involves heaving around some very heavy lumps of metal and standing for hours at a time, and as bellringers tend to be, shall we say, more mature there are few that have the stamina to do it for long periods of time. Churches limit the amount of practice time that's allowed, and certainly bells are not ringing non-stop on a Sunday morning because it would distract people coming to early communion and matins.

Once a noise bothers you, it's very difficult to eradicate that emotion. So I sympathise.
But I'm afraid that I think you might be exaggerating how long they ring for. For a start, bells are not rung during services. Because you wouldn't here it. And the point of bells is (as others have said) to call people to prayer.
Secondly, bell ringers don't have enough stamina to ring that long (I have been one).
For your sake, I hope that this was a one-off. Perhaps a training day.

It's everyone's right to love next to a mosque.

Then why not become a ringer? Lack of ringers is the main reason you don't hear them very often.

Good luck for midnight mass.
It won't be constant from 8-11. It will be for 30-45 mins depending on the number of campanologist / bells the tower has. They'll also be a 5 min break in between the peels. The 7-10 practice is long, we never practiced for 3hrs hours, 1 hr is a bloody good work out, 3hrs they must have some serious muscle mass...particularly whoever rings the tenor!
You'll also have bells at a wedding and a tolling of the bells for a funeral. So if it's a well attended church, you might get more than average.
Bell ringing is good exercise, social and a good cranial work out too (listening skills, mathematics and rhythm!). Even better it's a completely free activity! You should try it OP, you might really enjoy it!

Phone the police. Antisocial behaviour 🤣

Had this thread been critical of other religion's calling their people in, it would have been removed by now!

That’s on you then. If you didn’t research the area you were mov8ngvto, and didn5 notice the church (most churches have bells), then that comes under the banner ‘too bad, suck it up’. I can’t imagine that the circumstances you refer to means you can only live within a mile radius of the church.