On 7 June Swaledale Festival has an Introduction to Bell Ringing, a free event when ringers at St Mary's Church, Richmond will be explaining the ancient, arcane and quintessentially English practice of ringing bells upside down. (That’s the bells, not the ringers)
Although this is a free event so far as the Festival is concerned, we do encourage you to donate generously to the St Mary's Church Bell Appeal which is raising funds for a complete replacement of the current bell-frame – as critical an item as the bells themselves – to install a new ring of 8 bells and to refurbish and rehang the historic bells from the present ring for chiming.
Another fund-raising event that local ringers have organised is a cycle ride. Here’s what they’ve sent us about it.
“Between 23rd and 30th May Swaledale Outdoor Club (SOC) cycling/ bellringer Glenys Rogers will be leading a sponsored cycle ride from Richmond on Thames back to Yorkshire Richmond in order to raise money for our new bells and frame at St. Mary's church in Richmond. Glenys will be riding a tandem with another Glenys. Other SOC cycling/ Bellringers hoping to complete the whole route are Peter Trewby and Yvonne Armitage. Graham Rogers is assisting with vehicle support and hoping to cycle some of the route.
In addition we have some non-Bellringing SOC members taking part. James and Barbara Gravenor have given their time and energy to plot our route and will be leading us through London and then the flattest way up the country, taking in the Humber Bridge, but also linking numerous church towers where we will be ringing at lunch times and evenings. Most of the towers are in small villages but we will also be ringing at Waltham Abbey and Lincoln Cathedral.
As this copy is too small to read, download their flier for the full information - and maybe pass a copy to a friend.
Ron and Pat Kassell have very kindly offered to transport all the bikes plus some of the team to Surrey and will be giving much needed support each day in the way of refreshments at rest stops.
The distance we hope to cover is about 350 miles and there will be other bellringers from St Mary's taking part. In total we have eight cyclists hoping to do the whole route and five people in support.
On the last day SOC cyclists are being invited to join us between York and Richmond plus cycling ringers from other local churches so that we can make a grand entrance into the Market Place to finish in front of the Town Hall sometime on the Sunday afternoon, assuming we don't fall off on the cobbles.
If you would like to sponsor us for this worthy local cause please go to this link follow the Donate links. You can use the Just Giving site or send a cheque to the Appeal organiser. All the instructions are on the website. If you prefer you can give your donations to one of the cycling Bellringers and they will be passed on. All the costs for the trip are being met by the participants so every penny you donate will go into the fund.
Here's hoping for southerly winds and light bells.”
We hope to be able to provide information for any cyclists who would like to join the group for their ‘concours d’elégance’ into Richmond on 30 May and will put it on the Festival Facebook page.