All About Wadhurst

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Wadhurst Bellringers

Mark Twain once said that the definition of a classic was a book that everyone wants to be read but no-one actually wants to read.   Sometimes I think a similar statement could be made about the bells in Wadhurst.   We are frequently told how much people in the village appreciate hearing the bells for occasions like Christmas, New Year, weddings and so on but it seems that no-one, apart from our ageing band of ringers, is prepared to join in and ring the bells themselves.   We are very fortunate in having a good band of ringers when everyone is able to turn up, but we have virtually nothing in reserve.   All our band, with one exception, are over 50 years old and it is only too easy to foresee a time when our band becomes too depleted for the bells to be rung.   If we could find some volunteers it would be very much easier for them to learn now, when they can be helped by our experienced ringers, than to wait for a time when there are no ringers left and a band has to be recruited with everyone trying to learn simultaneously.   I have seen this happen at other towers and it is incredibly difficult.

You do not have to be particularly fit or strong or musical.   Our band is composed of an almost equal number of men and women with one boy.   The technique of ringing relies mainly on a sense of rhythm.   The bells swing largely by their own momentum and they are not used to play tunes, but change places according to mathematical patterns called ‘methods’.   Some of these methods, like Grandsire and Stedman, have been in continuous use for nearly 300 years.   Our bells in Wadhurst were cast between the dates of 1670 and 1955.   The bells were made up to eight in 1955 – before that time there were just six.   The lightest bell is just over 4 cwt. and the heaviest is just over 12 cwt.   (As bell-ringing is such a traditional activity the weights of the bells are still calculated in the old imperial measures).

If anyone reading this article would like to try ringing please give my wife, Ann, or me a ring (no pun intended!) on 01580-200466 or talk to any of our ringers (John Bishop, Norman Pocock, David Smith, Barbara Godsalve, Iris Glover, Bryan Nicholls or Nick Stutchbury).   If you prefer, you would be very welcome to join us on a practice night – Wednesdays from 19:30 to 9 o’clock – or to look in on a Sunday morning when we ring from 9.15 am to 10 o’clock.

                                                                                               Chris Bainham