All Saints Bell-Ringers

Who we are

We are a volunteer group of Bell-ringers. We are made up of people of varied ages and abilities and are all keen to help each other and so maintain the tradition of church Bell-ringing at All Saints in Earls Barton.

What we do

Practice

We meet as a band for a ringing Practice every Thursday evening throughout the year from 7.30pm until 8.30pm though sometimes if there are lots of us we finish a bit later. For beginners there are additional one to one training sessions that are arranged at mutually convenient times. These sessions are mostly conducted on a silent bell.

Service ringing

We ring the bells for every 10.00am Sunday morning Communion service and gather at the back of the church around 9.30am. We also aim to ring for any special additional service when we are requested to do so by the vicar. We also ring, with a charge, for Weddings and occasionally Funerals.

We ring at:

All Saints Church

7, High Street

Earls Barton

Northants

NN6 0JG

History of the bells

There have been Bells at this church for over 300 years and probably longer. Four of our current Bells are technically just over 300 years old and another Two are over 250 years old.    

There are eight bells in the Tower. The lightest of which is approx 40stone  and the heaviest approx 94stone. The oldest of the Bells are the aforementioned 4 bells cast in 1720 and newest which are the two trebles were cast in 1935 for the Silver Jubilee of King George V

The following bells carry inscriptions.

The Third. “Blessed are the Peacemakers’

The Forth “ If God be for us who can be against us”

The Sixth “ Jesus King of the Jews have mercy on me “

The Seventh “Let the church declare the Truth”

The Eighth “To the church the living I do call  To the grave I summon all”

Further information

What it takes to become member of the band

Bell ringing is something that anyone over the age of about 9-10 can learn to do.  Bell-ringing is a skill that cannot be learnt ‘overnight’ so patience and determination to succeed are qualities that are useful to have.  No matter how long any of us have been ringing we are all continually learning.

Bell-ringing is a skill, after all, that you can enjoy for the rest of your life. There are churches with Bells throughout the UK and in many other countries as well where you can go and join in with local ringers.

Our Belfry can only be accessed by means of the wooden ladder so some degree of having a head for heights is required.  You do not need to be a church-goer or indeed to be musical though having good hand to eye co-ordination is very useful.

Additional information for visiting ringers

We are a band that ring Rounds and Call changes and Plain Hunt on all Bells. We also ring mostly plain courses of Plain Bob, Grandsire and of course All Saints on 6 Bells. We do though sometimes, on Practice nights have a go at one or two other Plain methods such as Union, Reverse Canterbury and St Nicholas. 

Contact details

Initially contact the Tower captain to have a chat.

You will then be able to arrange to meet Andy at the Tower to have a go and gain an insight into what Bell-ringing is all about. He will explain all about the Training and Pathways that lead to becoming a member of the Earls Barton Band.

Tower Captain ( Current 2022 DBS cert holder)

Andy Smith

Telephone 01604 810558 or 0754 131 2407