A peal board which celebrates a piece of bell-ringing history has been put on display at St. Andrew’s Church in Grinton.
Two new bells were installed in the tower at St. Andrew’s last year, bringing the total to eight for the first time in the church’s long history.
St. Andrew’s is the principal performance venue for the Swaledale Festival each summer, and the Festival’s organisers decided to celebrate the installation of the new bells by arranging a special quarter peal attempt during the last year’s Festival. Augmented by some ringers from St. Mary’s in Richmond, and the Festival’s Artistic Director Malcolm Creese, the ringing team at St. Andrew’s achieved the 45-minute feat which made history as the first ever quarter peal on eight bells in the church.
The quarter peal occurred on 9th June 2017, which also happened to be the 25th birthday of the Ringing Master at St. Andrew’s - Chris Curry, who was born and raised in Grinton and is the Events Manager at Swaledale Festival.
In March 2018 Malcolm Creese presented the peal board, which was hand-painted by Richmond-based sign-writer Rodney Teasdale, to the Vicar, Revd. Caroline Hewlett.
Revd. Hewlett said “As well as celebrating the historical significance of the ring, the peal board serves as a fitting tribute to Chris Curry who has done an enormous amount for the church over many years.”