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

I like our local church bells.

Local lore says that the composer Handel visited our town and he liked the church organ so much that he bought it from the church and also donated the bells.

@Isxmasoveryet am so sorry you are in such a tricky position. Hopefully some of the suggestions on here around noise cancelling headphones etc are helpful.

About last weekend, it was Remembrance Sunday. It was unlikely to be 5 hours solid but the reality is that as a Christian country we mark special occasions with Bell ringing. Weekly practice sessions are common. But may be on key dates you could plan to go out for a few hours so you don't have to listen the whole time. Less easy to predict are things like weddings and funerals.

Currently listening to our local ringers playing ‘there is a green hill’ (I think. It’s a bit hit and miss 😂), I love it.

"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"
Yes, you are being unreasonable.

"Due to circumstances didnt have a choice on location and was unaware they would ring for several hours at a time due to anxiety and stress it drives me mad and at times feels like torture last Sunday was 5'5 hours of it non stop it over 3 hours twice a week"
Sorry to sound so harsh, but the stress and anxiety are yours and yours alone. To expect everyone else in your community to lose the sound of bells because you are anxious is not just unreasonable, surely you can see it's also extremely self-centred. Many people find pleasure in the sound of bells. Many people find comfort in the sound of bells. Many people just accept them as part of their physical landscape/soundscape akin to traffic noise. Do these people's wishes matter less than yours? Are they less important people than you?

You are in a hostel and have anxiety, there's a whole big backstory there. By choosing to focus on the church bells, you are also choosing not to focus on why you are in a hostel and why you have anxiety. They SHOULD be your focus.

Your presence in that hostel is definitely not permanent and should hopefully be short-term as you move to a more permanent home. The bells ringing is not going to change nor should you upset others by trying to change it, especially when your presence is temporary (and hopefully fleeting).

Instead, change your approach to the bells. There's two regular sessions. Regular. Predictable. Sunday 08.00 - 11.00, you could get up early and go out (I found walking quieted my mind and my worries when I had depression). Or you could wake to the sound and feel part of the community. Or you could lie there and seethe and - well, revel in how this is sooo bad for your anxiety. It's up to you. Thursday 19.00 to 22.00 you could be elsewhere. Or drowning the sound by watching TV. The "whenever they can in between" you could put yourself in their shoes and imagine their concentration on getting it right, imagine what they're practicing for, is it for the regular sessions or is there an upcoming wedding / funeral / Saint's Day for which there is a specific different peal?

I think it would do you good to think yourself out of your own head and into the heads of others. Deal with your anxiety and homelessness, the bells are neither here nor there in the overall scheme of things.

@MaloryJones the head phones I mentioned are over ear ones can be used as noise cancelling with or without listening to music or the noise cancelling can be turned off. They seem to completely block out high pitched noises, so unloading the dishwasher you can't hear anything whereas hoovering you can here a deeper hum. In terms of watching TV I would say they aren't suitable unless watching alone on a device you can connect to.

YABU - af course they should be allowed (sic) to play their bells - the churches have often been in situ for centuries and were there when you purchased your property. Bit like complaining of noice from the pub next door of the motorway/dual carriage way that were present when you purchased your home 🤦🏽‍♀️. I appreciate that you may not have been aware of this when moving into your home, but it’s one of those things you need to accept is out of your control - like the traffic noise, or the sounds of cats squalling in the night. The worl cannot change for every individual’s idiosyncrasies. I’d put some music on loud or invest in noise excluding headphones if it really is an issue.

And as a non church goer, I love the sound. It feels very specifically ‘English’. Think Miss Marple and Midsomer Murders…

Don't be a twat.

having grown up in the shadow of a 900+yr old church, who's bells have rung every week without fail (barring breakdowns and emergency situation) for over 300 years.. yabu.

I'm sorry you're finding it a problem, but they're part and parcel of life, and the hours you're giving are perfectly normal.

Waking up to the sound of them every sunday, and hearing them peal after the weddings, and during bell ringing practice was beautiful and i miss it.

Try and learn to love it.

Actually just had a thought, it's absolutely mad. Could you actually see if they would let you join in and start to learn the art of bell ringing? Would participating in the noise help you or would it make it worse? Sorry I'm not trying to diminish what you are going through, it's just that if you are in a hostel I'm not sure you are able to actually get away from the noise.

Hope you sort things out soon x

Maybe OP should have included that detail then. We aren’t all mind readers and most have agreed she is BU based on that missing detail 🤷‍♀️

"last Sunday was 5'5 hours of it non stop it over 3 hours twice a week"

As it was Remembrance Sunday last week, they were probably ringing a peal to mark the day. A peal is a complicated set of changes that can take three hours and is done to celebrate an occasion (Queen's Jubilee for example) or mark a special day like last Sunday.

When did you think they would ring if not on a Sunday, a wedding or practice? 5.5 hours is a wee exaggeration from one church....is it a cathedral?

@LisaD1 I can understand the first few posters not knowing the full details but not the ones posting further on the thread.

She's in a hostel...

That seems like a lot of bell ringing to be fair. The Church of Ireland closest to us rings its bells for about half an hour before morning and evening services, so not too long. I love the sound, but I think several hours would drive me insane. I used to live close to Ian Paisley's church and they played an ear splitting, somewhat distorted, recording of church bells playing various hymns. It was absolutely horrible, but again, only lasted half an hour or so before each Sunday service, the weekly prayer meeting and occasional special services.

I chose YABU as on the surface you are. Bells are lovely, but I see you are in a very difficult situation and suspect that this is just the final straw. Wishing you brighter days OP.

Your anxiety is a ‘you‘ problem, perhaps you should speak to whoever organised your house it to see if you can get moved.

Atheist here but I love the sound of church bells. The same sound that's rang out over populated areas for hundreds of years.

Plus it’s still irrelevant - anxiety can be caused and exacerbated by a million differnt things depending up on the person. Not enough noise can be anxiety inducing for instance.

A diagnosis for anxiety isn’t everyone else’s issue: it’s the suffer’s responsibility to recognise it, address it and seek support in making accommodations (eg, obtaining noise excluding headphones). I say this as a parent of an ASD/ADHD child with severe, chronic clinical anxiety and as a lifetime sufferer myself. It’s my anxiety, my problem, my responsibility to reframe the triggers or mitigate them by taking steps such as the many been suggested here.

It's not hard to just read the OP's posts though.

Last Sunday they would have been ringing for Remembrance.

The practising a couple of times a week is normal

Bellringing is a tricky thing to get right

I agree with you OP. 8am is a very unsociable hour to ring bells and there's no need for it to go on for that long. I live near a church hut luckily they don't do this.

Do people not remember what last Sunday was?

Still unreasonable in my opinion.

To be fair, 5.5 hours of the bells ringing does sound a bit unreasonable to me.

We live opposite a church, and I sometimes find a couple of hours of it can start to annoy me. They are practising, so it's often far from musical (though yesterday I heard them attempting twinkletwinkle little star, which made me smile).