What is Change Ringing?
Change ringing is a style of bell ringing developed for large church bells in Britain several hundred years ago. In England, in the tenth century, a decree was passed that granted the title of thane to any Saxon possessing 500 acres, a church, and a belltower. And so it came to pass that nearly every English town and village has a church with a belltower. There are more than 5000 in England today… There are over forty change ringing towers on the North American continent, with more being installed every year.
Change ringing does not involve ringing a melody on the bells, but rather permuting the order of sounding the bells according to formal rules called methods. You don’t need any musical skill or experience to learn change ringing. If you enjoy working with numerical patterns, chances are this will be an enjoyable activity for you! We are always looking for new ringers and would be glad to teach you to ring on handbells or tower bells (or both!).