A fabulous day at #Thaxted Fayre with lots of interest in #bellringing @mobilebelfries We signed up some new recruits too! 🔔🙂

Our Thaxted tradition of ringing out the old and ringing in the new year goes back to at least 1845. We have sausage rolls, cheese & crackers, washed down with mulled wine, but none of us climbs the spire! 😊

After enjoyable ringing at Radwinter, Hempstead and Thaxted on Christmas Eve, then Thaxted again on Christmas Day morning, it feels strange to have a break until NYE. Our all-benefice service today was at Great Sampford. Unfortunately, the bells there have been unringable for 100 years or more!

A lovely mini ringing tour of 3 towers today, starting with the fine 8 at Leytonstone and finishing with the wonderful 10 at West Ham. In between, probably the oldest bell I have rung, c1380 and no 7 of a light set of 8 at Leyton. Going really good despite plain bearings.😊

An enjoyable practice with 13 of us. Great to see our newbies making progress & ringing rounds. Thanks to everyone else being in the right place throughout, I actually managed a touch of PBD without needing guidance! PH7 went well too. Can hear our bells so much better with the new sound system!😀

A successful bell handling training day yesterday at the Willingale Ringing Centre, part of the annual Essex Training Day. One to one ratio of students and teachers. Our six newbies all made good progress. A fabulous facility with simulator, bell monitors, etc. Kitchen and loo.Tea, coffee & cakes!😋

I am looking forward to the annual Essex Training Day today. For the third year in a row, I am a helper on the bell handling course, this year at the Willingale Ringing Centre. We have a mixed group, ranging from new ringers who have had only one or two lessons to those starting to ring rounds.

Fellow ringers: just in case you have not found it yet, here is a starter pack. bsky.app/starter-pack...

A handful of towers rely on microphones and speakers, to convey the sound from bells to ground floor ringing chamber- our is one of those. After a lengthy process, we are replacing our far below optimum microphone & speaker, with a brand new sound system today. Testing begins shortly!