Page 41 - Ludlow Tower January 2023
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On ringing in the new year
The latest from Rev Dr Gary Bowness‘s
‘Uncle Eustace’
The Rectory
St James the Least of All
My dear Nephew Darren,
I am sure I warned you about church
bells. They are simply not to everyone’s
taste. And the idea of switching on your the village heard the New Year being
recorded bells - no matter how digitally joyfully welcomed by a set of eight bells
enhanced - at midnight for an hour in being rung in an entirely random order.
order to welcome in the New Year, no
doubt seemed inspired at the time. I still managed to drift off to sleep, only
However, considering that most of your to be woken three hours later by one
inner-city parish is Muslim, that you are bell being tolled mournfully but
hemmed in on one side by a hospital persistently. Finally, I felt obliged to go
and on the other by a care home for the and find out why. I discovered Colonel
elderly, it is not too surprising that the Bradshaw alone in the bell tower. When
joyful sound was not well received. the party had ended and the ringers
trooped out, the Colonel had dashed
To be fair, though, we too had a small back in to retrieve his hat. The others,
misjudgement on New Year’s Eve. Our ignorant of his absence, then locked the
bellringers, who practise the ancient art church and went home to their beds.
of change-ringing on real bells, The lone bell was his way of announcing
eschewing electronic equipment, have his predicament.
always been something of a trial. They
ring with great enthusiasm for half an At least I was able to reassure him that
hour before our services each week. his six-hour vigil in the church tower
Then as we are singing the first hymn, partially made up for his absence from
they emerge from the church tower, Matins for the previous 12 months.
putting on hats and coats while loudly Your loving uncle
discussing who made the error in the
middle of that morning’s Grandsire Eustace
Triples.
This New Year’s Eve they met in the bell
tower at 11pm to have some
champagne, then a period of ringing Editor’s note:
before further refreshment became Please note that all characters are fictional.
necessary. By midnight, the champagne Any resemblance to the practices or skills of
had so refreshed them that they the ringers of St Laurence’s is entirely
somewhat exceeded their accuracy and coincidental.
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