There’s a happy group of men and women who create the rich and melodious sound, which echoes around Dartmouth every Wednesday night. The Dartmouth Bell Ringers gather at the foot of the ropes high above the pews at St Saviours Church at 7.30pm. “It is a bit of a work out,” admits Tower Captain Tim Chapman. He has stuck with the hobby for 40 years and has been tower captain for 21. Concerned I may slow proceedings down I arrive early to have a quick run through before everyone else arrives. “So it’s right hand above left, just pull down on the Sally (the soft padded material near the end of the rope) and let me take the strain,” Tim says in a confident tone.
‘Even with Tim’s help a ‘workout’ turns out to be something of an understatement. I’m surprised how much effort it takes to get these bells going and I’m on the treble – the lightest one. Just as I’m wondering if I need to incorporate some kind of arm exercises into my daily routine Tim reassures me saying the treble bell does weigh the same as a motorbike! The tenor on the other side of the room is a ton in weight - about the size of a small family car so I don’t envy the person who takes that rope! But after a few pulls I soon learn that it is all about technique. I begin to get a satisfying feel for the hefty weight at the end of the rope and to understand what motivates thousands of people across Britain to ring church bells every year.
Quick run through over, the rest of the team start arriving and Tim allocates each one a bell. There’s talk of “have the ropes gone up again or have I shrunk?!” – apparently a regular dig at Tim’s insistence on sticking with natural rope: “Some churches have moved to synthetic as natural can be hard to maintain and it does stretch and move according to the conditions and the weather, but we will stick with the traditional material as long as I’m in charge!” There are eight bells here at St Saviours. I ask if it is a myth that bell ringers who hang on to the rope at the wrong moment can be hoisted high into the air, as seen on sitcoms! Tim smiles and admits he was caught out on one occasion. Apparently he got his thumb wedged and was left dangling six foot above the floor! It’s on hearing that story I decide to sit the next one out!
The next peel is “Queens” - the one most of us recognise. “Treble’s going, she’s gone,” comes the call from Ruth on bell number one as she starts, and the others follow suit. I always enjoy the sound of church bells when I’m around the town so to be this close to the action is superb. You can tell this team, made up of men and women from their 20 to mid 60s, have had months, if not years, of practise as they pull the bells one after the other in a tumbling wave. Tim, who works with young adults with learning difficulties, is like a conductor calling out various instructions during the ringing; “look up…three to one…two to three”. This continues for four or five minutes until he calls “upwards” which is the cue to stop. Everyone sits down for a quick breather and a chat.
Tim asked if I would like to climb up the rickety ladders and see the bells themselves. A couple of minutes later, after I’ve done battle with various cobwebs I realise I’m standing at the back of the clock, with its huge swinging pendulum. Tim has to come up here regularly to adjust the mechanism, as the clock tends to lose a few minutes a week. I climb one more set of stairs before I get to the actual bells. Some of these clanging giants have been here for nearly 100 years; the same bells that rang out on VE day.
I asked Tim what got him into bell ringing all those years ago. “I started as a cub at St Clements. We all gave it a go one evening and I really enjoyed it and started going every week. The thing with bell ringing is you don’t need any experience you can pick it all up as you go along.” He thinks the pastime might have a bit of a starchy reputation, which puts people off joining. “The hardest part about getting new members is just convincing them to come through the door. When here they would see that it is good fun, there’s great camaraderie and at half time we have tea and the best snacks! I would like it if every person who lived in Dartmouth came and tried it once.”
The team tries to encourage new members during the regatta morning bells. “We are Dartmouth’s wake up call every regatta ringing out at 8am each day. People come in to watch and we try and sign up a few people when they’re here. Our youngest members are two little four-year-old twins who visit each year on holiday. They always come in and we have a mini uniform for them!”
If Wednesday is tricky, you could attend the St Clements bell ringing session, which is on a Monday evening at the earlier time of 6.30. They are trying to attract younger people from the top of town. The youngest member up there at present is 10. The bells at St Clement’s are lighter and up until 50 years ago it was the training church – ringers would learn their skills there before being allowed to progress to St Saviour’s.
It’s not all tea, jammy dodgers and chatting though, the team is regularly called on to ring for weddings and special events. Tim says the diary can soon fill up: “We used to be separate bell ringers at each church but St Saviour’s and St Clement’s merged two years ago which means it can be quite busy when there is a run of events and it’s my job to make sure we provide a full team.” He says he is an easygoing guy and only gets a bit ratty when people aren’t paying attention in rehearsals! “You have to realise that this isn’t a quiet practice in a back room somewhere – everyone can hear us, everyone knows if we make a mistake.” But Tim concedes that getting it wrong isn’t always bad: “One regatta we made a mistake that actually sounded really good, but we couldn’t repeat it because no one could remember what we did!”
If you are interested, ring Tim on 01803 833754
First published By The Dart May 2018 Issue
