Ding DONG!

Three readers explain how they developed a passion for bell-ringing

- CATHERINE LARNER

‘It’s an astonishing experience – the noise travels for miles and it’s thrilling’

Catherine Lane, 76, lives in Oxfordshire. She is a retired headteacher and widowed, with two adult sons.

I’ve loved the sound of bells ever since hearing them as a child, playing outside on a Sunday evening. Years later, with my own family, living in a village in Berkshire, I saw bell-ringers in the gallery when I went to church. I asked if anyone could have a go. They were very keen to teach me so, as soon as my sons were old enough, I cycled there twice a week to learn how to do it. I’ve been ringing for 40 years now.

It takes anything from a couple of sessions to a few weeks to get the hang of it and is daunting at first. The rope travels at 40 miles an hour, and it’s a feat of coordination and timing. You’re using your body, your eyes, your ears and working in time with the other bell-ringers.

When the bell moves there is a rumbling of the rope and mechanism above, then you hear the most stupendous sound as the clapper hits the side of the bell. It’s an astonishing experience. The noise travels for miles and it’s really thrilling. You never stop learning and can always do more. I like ringing peals, where the sequence isn’t repeated from start to finish – it can go on for more than three hours.

Now I’m the Master of the Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers but that doesn’t mean I’m the best ringer! I help organise the association, which is nearly 150 years old. We have 400 towers and I try to ring in as many as I can.

I like to explore the history of each church. Bell-ringing is something that’s been going on for centuries. I can be ringing a bell that will have sounded since the 15th century.