Bellringers
Bellringing has been important part of worship here since Medieval times, with our three original bells predating 1717.
Bells are the voice of the Church and un till recently only Anglican churches were able to use bells to call worships to the service, nowadays all denominations are able to use them.
Bellringers are not just cardigan wearing anoraks, although the exercise (or so ringing is called in certain circles, no pun intended, honest) probably does have more than its fair share of such individuals. Ringers are normal people, well for the most part, I have met very few with Quasimodo style hunches, although most do seem to share his manical fascination with "The Bells! The Bells!".
Here at Castle Bromwich we are fortunate enough to have the last set of bells cast by Gillett and Johnston of Croydon, before they went bankrupt. This is both a blessing and a curse, we have beautiful sounding bells, but they are odd struck and the lasting legacy of G & J's financial hardships with baldrick style top ends to our clappers, which hadn't been used since the 1800's, but we have them in recast 1952 bells.
What does it take to be a ringer?
You! Seriously, almost anyone can be taught how to handle a bell. You neither need to be strong, nor mathematically minded, nor musical, although if you are you are at an advantage. While its true that most of us will never scale the dizzy heights of the great ringers, it is still good fun. But turn up, have a go! Who knows you may be the next Fabian Steadmen, or Joseph Snowdon!
When do we practice?
We practice nearly every Wednesday from 7:30 till 9:00pm. Just turn up the door at the bottom of the tower and ring those door bells!
We also ring for Sunday mornings (9:30 till 10:00 am), for weddings, other feast days and we have even be known to make a noise for public events and funerals, and sometimes, just sometimes we ring for fun
