A full peal

They did it !

The bell ringers achieved their objective on Wednesday 1st August 2001 when they rang a full peal in anticipation of the Queen Mother’s birthday on 4th August. This is only the third time a full peal has been rung on these bells, according to the records kept by the Salisbury Guild of Bell ringers.

For the technically inclined the 5040 changes were rung in 2 hours and 57 minutes using 11 doubles methods: Plain Bob, Grandsire, Reverse Canterbury, St. Nicholas, Winchester Place, St.Remigius, Huntley, St. Simon, St. Martins and St. Osmunds ending with 240 of Eynesbury.

For the uninitiated, a doubles method means that 5 of the 6 bells are changing in sequence whilst the tenor bell, number 6 and the lowest note, stays in the sixth place all the time. There are 120 possible changes to the pattern on 5 bells. In this peal there were 480 changes in 10 methods and 240 in the final method.

The ringers came from within the Mere Branch of the Salisbury Guild, Chris Sykes, Tracey Diment, Judith Robertson who conducted i.e. kept everyone in their correct place, Ross Robertson, Robert Wellen and a late replacement for Gordon Heath, Richard Hedges.

Extracted from an article published in the Three Towers Magazine

G.H.
2001