Bell Ringers 2005

“The Highest Point in the Village”

This was the headline to an article in the February 2004 magazine about the `Knowle 600' flag that flew high over the village throughout 2003. If you are visiting this site from the website address in that article, welcome to the Bell Ringers section of the Knowle Parish Church website. If you have simply stumbled across our pages, you are just as welcome!

As the Parish Magazine has limited space for information, we have included here further details on the various `special' ringing achievements that took place during 2003 as a part of the yearlong celebrations.

The following has been taken from an article written for publication in The Ringing World, the weekly official worldwide journal for Bell Ringers:

Knowle Parish Church was dedicated on 24 February 1403 and therefore 2003 was a year of celebration to mark the 600th anniversary of the church.

In a year that included special services, exhibitions, a flower festival and historical drama, the ringers played their part with a tower open day and `special ringing'. On 24 February 2003, the actual anniversary of the dedication, there was a peal of 5152 changes of Yorkshire Surprise Major and the year ended with a peal of 5120 changes of Cambridge Surprise Major on 30 December 2003:

Monday, 24 February 2003 in 2hrs 37mins 5152 Yorkshire Surprise Major Composed by C P Starbuck Conducted by A B J Lansberry		Tuesday, 30 December 2003 in 2hrs 42mins 5120 Cambridge Surprise Major Composed by Frederick Dench Conducted by A B J Lansberry

1	H Ann Smart	1	Rebecca M Shipley
2	Richard B Grimmett	2	Richard Andrew
3	Paul Needham	3	Neil I G Mackay
4	Jayne E Shipley	4	Jane L Wilkins
5	Philip J Sealey	5	Jayne E Shipley
6	Stephen R Shipley	6	Stephen R Shipley
7	Simon E Adams	7	Simon E Adams
8	Andrew B J Lansberry	8	Andrew B J Lansberry

To celebrate the 600th anniversary of the consecration of the church on this day in 1403		First peal: 1; First major: 3; First Cambridge as Conductor. To mark the end of a year of celebration for the 600th anniversary of the consecration of this church

Also in December, two `date touches' were rung. The first was composed specially for the occasion, taking two different methods and `splicing' these together to form a piece of ringing of 1403 changes; the second was an adaptation of a composition for a full peal to reduce it in length to 2003 changes:

Sunday, 14 December 2003 1403 Spliced Yorkshire Surprise Major and Plain Bob Triples Composed by Robert Lee Conducted by S R Shipley		Sunday, 28 December 2003 2003 Stedman Triples Adapted from Thurstan's Four Part Conducted by S R Shipley

1	Jill Erskine	1	Annette Jarratt-Knock
2	Bridget Osmond	2	Andrew Lansberry
3	Annette Jarratt-Knock	3	Jane Wilkins
4	Richard Andrew	4	Jayne Shipley
5	Ann Smart	5	Michael Dodson
6	Ruth Shepherd	6	Mark Shepherd
7	John Anderson	7	Stephen Shipley
8	Stephen Shipley	8	Ann Smart

Date touch rung to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the consecration of the church		To mark the 600th anniversary of the consecration of this church

All of those who took part in these performances are members of The St Martin's Guild of Church Bell Ringers for the Diocese of Birmingham. This Guild was established in 1755 and, as the name suggests, started at St Martin's in the Bull Ring, Birmingham; it soon grew to cover a wider area and now all churches in the Diocese of Birmingham belong to the Guild.

If the phrases we use in ringing are like an unknown foreign language to you, please be patient. Over the coming weeks we shall be attempting to answer such questions as:

What is a peal?

What is a `change'?

What is a `Date Touch'?

What is surprising about `Surprise'?

What is `splicing'?

What is a `method'

and any others that come to mind as we write!

So, please visit this site on a regular basis to see what new information has been posted!!