Tuesday’s practice night at Wimborne came to an abrupt halt after Alan, who was ringing the 7th bell, realized something was very wrong: “It was like a bad dream. The bell was dropping, no matter how hard I pulled”. Further investigation revealed that the bell had not just “dropped” into its normal resting position, mouth down, it had well and truly dropped askew out of its normal position due to a broken gudgeon.
Diagram from bellringing.org
The diagram shows that the bell’s “gudgeon” is equivalent to the axle on a wheel, so a break here puts the bell out of action and, due to the weight of the bell, at 350kg equivalent to a large touring motorbike, puts a strain on the surrounding components.
Not only was it unringable, but the bell was teetering in an unstable position, so a team of the ringers led by Rob Child, the Steeple Keeper, worked carefully to secure the bell in place using ropes, prior to a bell hanger from White’s of Appleton being called in to inspect and advise.
The Bell Hanger attended on Wednesday morning, safely removed the bell from the frame and took the cracked stay, and damaged wheel and headstock back to Oxford for inspection. The Steeple Keeper is awaiting the results of the inspection in the next few days.
A decision about whether to continue ringing the remaining 11 bells, or to suspend ringing until the 7th is reinstated, is expected at the weekend.
Following the visit of the Mayor of Wimborne and the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dorset to the Parish Eucharist in the morning, a peal of 5070 changes of Stedman Caters was successfully rung on the Minster Bells during the afternoon to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen’s Accession to the throne. The intended peal of Stedman Cinques was sunk at the final moment by two members of the band contracting Covid, but the peal sounded as the bells would have been heard 70 years ago to a composition specially composed for a Platinum Anniversary.
David Warwick, Tower Captain at Wimborne Minster, was interviewed on Radio Wimborne’s “Down Your Way” program on February the 11th. Start listening 31 minutes in to the program on THIS LINK.
James Sexton was a long-standing and loyal supporter of the ringing band, and wider Minster community, for well over fifty years.He was one of the ten ‘named’ Minster Ringers and regularly rang the sixth (Jim’s bell) to Grandsire Caters on a Sunday morning. During his ringing career he was for a time Tower Secretary and forever encouraging and helpful to younger members of the band. Although well into his eighties when the bells were augmented, he enthusiastically committed to twelve-bell ringing and was proud of his ability to master Grandsire Cinques. After the age of ninety, he came to the conclusion that the descent of 72 steps down from the ringing chamber was becoming unduly perilous, and he stopped ringing, but did not lose his social connection with the band. He chimed ‘his bell’ with the Rector (from ground level, see picture) at his last communion at the Minster before leaving Wimborne to join his wife Beryl (also a bellringer) for a Care Home in Bournemouth. Many ringers attended his funeral at the Minster, and a quarter peal was rung half muffled immediately following the service.
Extract from the Quarter Peal of Half muffled Grandsire Caters
The Minster Bells have rung out over the town for Sunday Services, Royal and Civic Events and Weddings since at least the 14th century. Sadly, they fell silent for much of 2020 and 2021. To celebrate Christmas the local band will attempt a full peal for the first time since 2019. It will be 5042 different changes of a method named Lincolnshire Surprise Maximus – a peal not previously rung on the Minster’s bells. It will start immediately following a wedding in the Minster at around 2.45pm on Wednesday 29th December and should take about 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete. The peal will require significant physical stamina, mental facility, concentration and team work from the twelve ringers who must ring each change continuously and without error.
For the first time, we’re asking people to sponsor our ringing in aid of the Wimborne Minster Musical Heritage Trust. Donors are invited to give per changes successfully competed (eg £1.00 for 1000 changes) or per minute of continuous ringing (eg 2p per minute). You can sponsor the ringing via the JustGiving page.
The ringers practicing for the peal attempt. Video recorded by Alan Bentley.
In this month’s Dorset Life magazine, read an in-depth article about the bells, ringers and how we play a part of Wimborne life. You can read a snippet of the article here or pay to read the rest of the December issue online.
The first ever Wimborne Minster Family Fun day took place in September, in order to raise funds for Minster Makes Music.
The original plan was for a Saturday in July, but it was postponed due to Covid restrictions, and fortunately the warm, sunny weather was worthy of a July day.
The event was formally opened by the Mayor, commentary was provided by Radio Wimborne, and a Marching band and a piper performed during the morning. The Green was covered in stalls selling books, jigsaws, pottery, and bric a brac, and a Climbing Wall.
Originally, it was suggested that the Andrew the Rector could abseil down the Bell Tower, on the annual church Fun Day. However, when Elf and Safety were consulted, the plan was given a thumbs down. How much better (ringers Rob and Hilary reasoned) to set up a zip wire and encourage people to bring their teddies along, and let them fly down from tower to green. They sourced pre-tested teddy harnesses (in a variety of sizes), from the Ringers at St Mary’s Church Lytchett Matravers, and spent a cheerful Saturday morning, a fortnight in advance, checking that the zip wire worked. Secure harnesses for the 2 tower-top volunteers were essential – the parapet suddenly seems very flimsy when you are dangling teddies over it, and (rather than expect humans to repeatedly run up the tower with armfuls of teddies), the band devised a bucket and pulley system to allow the brave ursids to ascend.
In order to run the zip wire for 4 hours, and provide a series of Tower Tours, serious manpower was required, and in the event, 12 members of the Minster Band shared the efforts.
Demand for the zipwire was unexpectedly strong – the biggest surprise was the number of adults who brought along teddies, and enjoyed themselves just as much as the kids.
The Departure Lounge
With commentary from Radio Wimborne, the first 4 “flights” of teddies were processed in the first hour. At first we fumbled the teddies into their harnesses and the certificates blew around in the breeze, there were difficulties getting the teddies out of the bucket at the top of the tower, and a couple of people accidentally missed their teddy’s flight and so we had to send them up for a second time. But once we got the hang of it, it was quite honestly a brilliant day, and a privilege to meet so many nice teddy-owners.
Some of the parents asked anxiously whether the teddies got very nervous (it seemed they only did during the bucket ride – they all looked pretty happy on the wire). None of the kids were concerned, they knew their teddies were brave!
Between 10 and 2, we flew teddies, rabbits, a sparkly dog, an orangutan and a Barbie. Also a couple of creatures of ambiguous species. Before we even started flights, we already had a dozen bears queueing patiently for their turn. Once down, each teddy was presented with a certificate of bravery and a solemn handshake.
Bertie the Bear, with his Certificate of Bravery
We have various notes to self for next year:
– Bring a thermos and lots of sandwiches. You will not get a break. – Allow for 12 bears an hour. All the harnessing and hauling and flying and certificate writing takes time.
– Make some really small harnesses. Small teddies are very common, and Barbies and their like are exceedingly slim!
– Be prepared to re-fly teddies if their owners accidentally blink or get distracted.
Meanwhile, back in the ringing chamber…
The Ringers ran half-hourly Tower Tours, and a lot of the customers seem to have been originally attracted by the teddy zipwire. A table of teddies is more intriguing than a table simply advertising tower tours! The customers were enthusiastic and appreciative, and some were obviously really amazed to see people actually ringing. A couple put their names down to start learning to ring.
And the Rector?
He got his adrenaline rush by ascending the Climbing Wall with commentary from Radio Wimborne, and later he flew his teddy. I don’t think he was disappointed with the day!
Why not pop along to the Adventure Fun Day taking place on the Minster Green in Wimborne on Saturday 18th September.
In addition to charity stalls, the Dorset Youth Marching Band, a Climbing Wall and Teddy Bear Zip Dive, Minster Bell Tower Tours will take place between 10am – 2pm.
If you fancy tackling the 72 steps up the narrow staircase, there will be demonstrations of ringing, a visit to the ringing chamber, a video link to the bells when ringing, and an opportunity to learn a bit about the art of ringing and meet the local bellringers.
We hope that this will be a day of fun for the whole family so do come along and enjoy yourselves. For Bell Tower tours, face masks will be required, and children must be over 8.
Five members of the Wimborne Minster Society of Church Bell Ringers rehearsed and produced this 6 minute hand bell ringing audio-visual video. Due to lockdown protocols, all ringing had to take place outdoors, hence the setting.
The clip was played during the Festival, 8 May, 2021, as part of the on-line service led by the Bishop of Ramsbury and relayed via the Zoom platform.
Apart from one, all the featured churches are within the Salisbury Diocese.
Thanks to Trevor Prince (Chair, Wimborne Camera Club) for his help with the recording and editing of this presentation and to Flick & David Warwick for the use of their garden.
All photos and the video recording are copyrighted.
Wimborne Minster Bell Ringers 
