A CAMPAIGN to recruit hundreds of new bell ringers nationwide to commemorate those who gave their lives in the First World War has sounded all the right notes in Pershore.
Four new members joined the Pershore Abbey Bell Ringers as a result of the ‘Ringing Remembers’ project launched earlier this year.
Jenny Allcock, Claire Payne, Sally Stewart and Gordon Robinson have been learning to ring on the easy-going bells in St Andrew’s Centre in Pershore.
Having learnt to handle a bell at St Andrew’s, their real challenge comes as they transfer their skills to ringing on the bells of Pershore Abbey, just across the road. The Abbey bells are much bigger than those at St Andrew’s and not nearly as easy to ring.
With most of the Abbey bells dating from 1727, and six of the eight bells at St Andrew’s being cast in 1715, these bells will have been rung for many national and local events.
The new members follow in the footstepds of those who joined the war effort where many lost their lives.
Just after the war, the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers wrote to all bell towers to compile the Roll of Honour. At the time 1,077 men were reported as lost. Recent research has identified more than 300 additional ringers who died in service.
Lance Corporal Ernest Walter Haynes of Spring Road and Serjeant John Need of Priest Lane were the fallen heroes from Pershore and both members of the 11th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment.
On Remembrance Sunday, the ringers and new learners will be joining in with the national ringing. They will start at 9.30am, ringing with the bells muffled in sadness for all those lives lost during all wars, especially remembering the people of Pershore who died.
This ringing leads up to the Service of Remembrance in the Abbey starting at 10.40am. After the service, at 12.30pm, the bells ring once again, but now the bells will be rung ‘open’ crying out in full glory to
celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, bringing peace to the world.
During the day, there will also be lots of events associated with the large-scale British project, ‘Battle’s Over – A Nation’s Tribute’. Pipers will be piping in the morning, bugles sounding, and 1,000 beacons are to be lit across the UK in the evening.
The Pershore bell ringers will be joining in with this tribute by ringing again at 7.05pm.
