St. Mary’s Bells ring out for Redbourn 900

A flower festival is being held at St. Mary’s Church over the weekend of 3rd – 4th July 2010 to celebrate 900 years of the present church. The bellringers will be joining in the celebrations on both days.

On Saturday 3rd July, there will be occasional bellringing throughout the day, including a commemorative quarter peal which will last for 45 minutes. We are also planning to ring 900 changes of bells, one for each year of the church’s history. If you would like to visit, the tower will be open for short periods on Saturday and you will be very welcome.

On Sunday 4th July a peal has been arranged for the afternoon, in addition to normal service ringing. The bellringing will be continuous for 3 hours and if the peal is successful it will be the first by local ringers since 2003. The tower will be closed to visitors on Sunday.

We hope that you will enjoy listening to the bells.

A quarter peal of 1260 changes of Plain Bob Doubles was rung on March 25th 2010 for the opening service of the Redbourn 900 celebrations.

The bellringers who took part were:

Treble: Alex Wells

2nd : Mary Rixon

3rd : Pauline Ridgwell

4th : Diana Reading

5th : Ben Edwards (Conductor)

Tenor : Andrew Farnham

PEAL NEWS

A PEAL WAS ATTEMPTED AT ST. MARY'S ON THURSDAY DECEMBER 31ST 2009 TO CELEBRATE 125 YEARS OF THE HERTFORD COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF CHANGE RINGERS, FOUNDED IN ST.ALBANS IN 1884.

The band included several ringers from St. Mary's and was the third and final attempt in 2009. Unfortunately the peal was not to be, but the local band will try again on July 4th 2010 as part of the Redbourn 900 celebrations.

The Hertford County Association of Change-Ringers

The Hertford County Association of Change-Ringers (HCACR) was founded on October 28th 1884, at a meeting held in St. Albans Abbey. Its objects are to further the work of the Church by the ringing of bells, to promote all aspects of bells and bell-ringing, to encourage the recruitment and training of bell-ringers and to advance the art of change-ringing. At present, the Association has 101 member churches and over 700 resident members.

The Association is divided into six districts: Bishop’s Stortford, Eastern, Northern, St. Albans, Watford and Western. The districts organise the majority of the Association’s activities, including social events such as quiz nights, dinners, treasure hunts etc., as well as regular bell-ringing practices and business meetings.

The Association organises two annual striking competitions: the six-bell Kimpton Cup and the eight-bell Coburn Trophy. It also holds regular 10-bell practices and enters teams in the Essex and Ridgeman ten-bell inter-county striking competitions. A library is maintained, containing a range of educational items and historical records.

The HCACR Bell Restoration Fund was established in 1971 to provide financial assistance to church authorities when repairing or improving church bells and installations. To date, over 70 grants have been made, totalling over £80,000.

Due to its close proximity to London – in many respects Hertfordshire is the quintessential ‘Home County’ – the Association’s territory may not be especially well known as a holiday or tour destination. However the HCACR possesses some of he most interesting and varied towers in the UK, as well as some fine countryside. From the great Norman tower of St. Albans Abbey to the smaller scale charms of Holy Cross, Sarratt, there is much to attract visiting ringers here.

Further information about the Association can be obtained from its website