Olympic Rings to ap-peal!

BELL RINGERS around the diocese will be leading thousands in the UK celebrating the grand opening of the Olympic Games on 27 July.

As Turner prize-winning Martin Creed’s contribution to the Cultural Olympiad, Work No. 1197 'All the Bells' involves bell ringers around the country uniting at 8.12am on 27 July to ring the bells for three minutes.

But it is not just church Bell Ringers who can get involved in the project, with people all across the UK invited to ring any bells they can find.

St Andrew’s and All Saints’, Dibden, is one parish embracing the Olympic spirit, with events being organised at both churches.

Anne Murphy, an administrator at St Andrew’s said: “We will ring our bell for three minutes and we plan to close the car park off and get as many people in with however many bells they can find and ring them all!

“We’re hoping people will come with a variety of bells – bicycle bells, alarm clocks, whatever type of bells, we’d like to get as big a variety as possible.”

Alarm bells

'All The Bells' has not been without its controversy, with the initial announcement of the project last year upsetting some campanologists, who felt that the with the instructions “all the bells in a country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes” were inappropriate for church bell ringing, owing to the fixed volume and tuning with which such bells must be rung.

The time of the event was also criticised with fears Bell Ringers would not be available early in the morning.

Guild gives support

But David Strong, Master of the Winchester and Portsmouth Guild of Bell Ringers, has encouraged churches to get involved.
“Special ringing is always a good link between the use of the bells, church and community,” he said.
“Bell ringers recognise the original instructions was not with them in mind – all that’s passed now – I think people recognise it’s good promotion of a community event and are thinking let’s just get on with it!”