Category: News

Christmas Ringing 2021

Ringing arrangements as normal except as shown here:
Wednesday 8 December no practice (Carol service in church)
Sunday 12 December quarter peal in the evening
Tuesday 14 December practice night changed to Tuesday from Wednesday –
normal times and arrangements
Wednesday 15 December no practice (Carol service in church)
Friday 17 December finish decorating Christmas trees for festival
Sunday 19 December evening ringing from 15:30–16:30 for Community Carol service
Friday 24 December ringing from 22:15–23:00 for 23:00 service for midnight mass
Saturday 25 December ringing from 8:30–9:30 (coffee & cake afterwards!)
Sunday 26 December normal morning ringing. No evening ringing – no evensong
Wednesday 29 December no practice
Friday 31 December Ringing: be at the church by 23:30. Ringing from midnight.
Sunday 2 January back to normal.

Read our bellringing article in the latest edition of Saints Alive, the magazine for All Saints Kingston and St John’s Kingston (Sep/Oct/Nov 2021) https://www.allsaintskingston.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Saints-Alive-Sept-Oct-Nov-2021-for-WEB.pdf

A very special guest came to Wednesday practice night. Our Rector, Jonathan Wilkes is leaving All Saints Church, Kingston on 17 October 2021 so we wanted to give him a little bellringing send-off. Jonathan and his wife Linda had a go on the bells, listened to some ringing, there were speeches, gift-giving and bubbles too 🥂

Thank you Jonathan for all your support to our band over the past 15 years and to serving the community of Kingston. You will be missed! 

Here’s Rector Jonathan Wilkes having a go on a bell. Having sat next to Jonathan at the first bellringers’ dinner I was surprised to hear that he hadn’t ever tried the bells in his 15 years. I said that he needed to give it a go and we said we would arrange it. It never happened so his send-off party seemed the perfect time for him to try, He insisted on ringing the biggest bell! It shows what a great teacher our tower captain is to be able to teach a learner on the tenor! Definitely not for the faint of heart!

There is a video on our Instagram page: scroll through to the end.

Here’s a close-up of the leaving gift we gave Jonathan – an engraved table bell from Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

Following the disappointment of cancelling all our ringing, including a planned trip to the Wirral, during the Covid lockdowns, the Kingston ringers were determined to have a little outing this autumn. It was good to see so many of our ringers on the outing as well as welcoming Caroline and Michael from Sevenoaks and their dog Bella.

After admiring the magnificent Cedar of Lebanon tree in the church yard, we rang the tuneful Gillett eight at Cranleigh to rounds and call changes, Stedman Triples and Cambridge Surprise Major. Their tenor is 17cwt but the bells felt heavier and slower than our own back 19cwt eight. 

Lunch was taken in the White Horse pub in the pretty village of Hascombe. Hascombe bells (3cwt tenor – lighter than our treble!) and the tiny ringing chamber proved to be quite a contrast to Cranleigh but our ringers did well in both towers.  After rounds and call changes and Grandsire Doubles, we finished with a 120 of Stedman Doubles and a lower.

We rewarded ourselves with a cream tea at Winkworth Arboretum. 

Many thanks to the ringers of Cranleigh and Hascombe for their kind hospitality and to Paul for organising the outing.

Unfortunately, due to Covid and social distancing, we’re not able to hold our normal bell ringing practices at Kingston for the foreseeable future. Normally we’re very pleased to see visitors and encourage them to learn to ring.

The only ringing we can do now is to ring four socially distanced bells for 15 minutes on a Sunday morning – we can’t accommodate visitors then either. Do listen out for us on Sunday morning after 9am.

Many ringers have turned to online ringing on Ringing Room. There is a very nice explanation of bell ringing and what ringers are doing in during shutdown here: https://ringingroom.com/about 

Article about the silencing of our historic bells during lockdown, in SWLondoner, local online newspaper https://www.swlondoner.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Booklet_final-min.pdf

Surrey Association has launched a new community website to support its members.

“Together we face an extraordinary challenge, to maintain our community during a period when we are denied the very activity that brings us together.

We’ve set up this website to keep in touch and to share information, ideas and stories. Even when we can’t meet in person there is still a wealth of opportunity to discover and learn about our exercise and to connect with other ringers.”

https://community.surreybellringers.org.uk/

We’ve just been alerted to the fact that All Saints, Kingston has been chosen by National Churches Trust’s CEO Claire Walker as her favourite church. Thanks for the inclusion. https://www.explorechurches.org/our-favourites

Spotted this on Twitter, but not sure who created it. It also has 31 days in April, but at our tower, I’ve said that you can either do all 31 or skip one, but choose carefully as you can’t read through the challenges before the day! Tweet us or send us pics via Instagram your entries for each challenge.

Our bells will fall silent during this difficult time. Stay safe and we hope to be making our joyful sound again soon 🔔