The Parish Church of
Saint Mary and All Saints, Whalley
Whalley Bells: News and Events
Whalley Bell Centenary Celebration Event 19th October 2024
On the 19th October 2024, we had a full day of celebrations for the successful completion of the bell centenary refurbishment project. An excellent quarter peal of Plain Bob Major, conducted by Matthew Warburton, was rung in the morning followed by open ringing from 2.00 to 3.00pm in the afternoon. This resulted in a packed ringing room with ringers eager to try out the refurbished bells!
A short thanksgiving service was held in church led the Rev Philip North, Bishop of Blackburn. It was great to see a full church for this service and equally good to be able to give thanks for all those who have contributed so much to the project.
Refreshments in church followed the service and further open ringing on our now easy going 1924 Taylor bells! All in all a great day, thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Whalley Bell Centenary Event 21st March 2024
Last night we celebrated the centenary of our bells at Whalley Parish Church which were installed on the 21st March 1924.
A well struck quarter peal of Plain Bob Major was rung to celebrate the Centenary. Prior to the quarter peal, visitors and ringers enjoyed tea and cakes, served in the lovely surroundings of St Mary's and All Saints Church Whalley. We even had a Centenary cake with candles !!
It was great to be able to introduce the ancient art of English Church bell ringing to visitors from the village. Also explain our plans for the Centenary bell restoration and sound control project which is planned to start in the summer of this year.
Thanks to all those who helped us make this a successful event and so mark the Centenary of our bells.
Heritage Open Day 2023
The 2023 Heritage Open Day event took place at Whalley on the 16th September. Bell ringing themed events included a teddy bear zip wire from the tower ringing room window to the west gate fence. This proved an absolute hit with everyone who brought teddy bears along for the ride. Music included the theme from Thunderbirds and Mission Impossible, making the event really good fun.
In the afternoon, six ringing room tours took place, each with six members of the public, interested in hearing about bells and bellringing. The tours included a short film about how bells were made at Taylors bell foundry followed by a ringing demonstration and a chance to have a go on the end of a bell rope ! Well worthwhile and we may get some new recruits for the bell ringing team.
Donations for all events were gratefully received for the 2024 centenary bell restoration project.
Bellringing for The King's Coronation
Joyful ringing on all 8 bells at Whalley took place on Saturday the 6th May 2023 from 10.15 to 10.45am just prior to the Coronation service for King Charles III at Westminster Abbey.
In addition a course of Plain Bob Minor was rung on the back 6 bells which can be heard on the sound track below. Conducted by Adrian West, the Tower Captain and Ringing Master while ringing the tenor bell.
Bellringing for The Queens Funeral
Half muffled ringing took place on the 19th September 2022 to mark the sad day of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. General ringing took place from 10.00 to 10.45am with our local band ringing bells 2 to 7.
Half muffled tenor bell tolling followed, up to the time of the funeral at 11.00am.
Bellringing Peal to Celebrate The Queens Platinum Jubilee 2022
A full peal of 5070 changes was rung on the 8 bells of St Mary and All Saints Church, Whalley as part of local celebrations to mark the Queens Platinum Jubilee. The peal started at 10.00am on the 4th June 2022 and took three hours and six minutes of non-stop bellringing by a visiting band of ringers. The change ringing was Ribble Valley Alliance Major, a method which was devised and conducted by local bell ringer George Campling. For an audio clip at the end of the jubilee peal ringing see below.
The peal was also rung as a belated golden wedding anniversary compliment to John and Shirley Pilkington who rang together at Whalley for over 50 years.
Bellringing for H.M. The Queen’s 90th Birthday
The bells of St Mary and All Saints Parish Church, Whalley rang out to celebrate the Queen’s actual birthday on 21st April 2016. This was anticipated by a full peal of 5056 changes rung by a visiting band of ringers on Saturday 9th April from 3.00 pm to approximately 6.00 pm. On Thursday 21st April, ringers from the Ribble Valley combined to ring at the following churches to mark the occasion:
Starting at Whalley, the bells were rung before the 10.00am service. Following this were St Mary Magdalene’s, Clitheroe, and then St Helen’s, Waddington. Further ringing followed lunch at Slaidburn, then Bolton by Bowland and Gisburn, concluding at St Mary le Ghyll, Barnoldswick. It had been suggested that a pie supper at a nearby venue might be a fitting way to round off the day, though only few continued there to enjoy this.
Bells ring out to celebrate 70th anniversary of VE Day
At 12 noon on Sunday 10th May, the bells of St Mary & All Saints Church in Whalley rang out in thankfulness for the victory in Europe 70 years ago. They joined hundreds of others throughout the country ringing over the weekend in response to a letter from William Hague to the President of the Central council of Church Bellringers.
Of special note in Whalley, one of the ringers present was Mr Frank Peel, who also rang to celebrate the actual VE Day in 1945.
He was able to recall the names of others who were with him on that day but unfortunately are no longer with us:
Harry Hargreaves, Harold Birtwell, Frank Peel, Billy Sutton, Jack Carr, Brian Carr, Derek Haworth and Eric Blackledge
On this Sunday in 2015, the other ringers with Frank were:
Joan Peel, John & Shirley Pilkington, Adrian & Sarah West, Catherine Duckworth, Brian Haworth, Neil Graham and Geoff Garnett from Slaidburn, who came specially to join us.
Bellringers Report to APCM for year 2013/14 by John Pilkington
We are all getting older, and some of us less fit than we used to be, so we are pleased that our latest recruits, Brian and Neil, are making good progress. Brian is taking his first steps in Change Ringing (known as Plain Hunting, and Neil, who started last March is now competent at Call Changes and will soon take the same steps towards Plain Hunting.
Neil, a former teacher, seems to have a gift for expressing his feelings about learning to ring, so I have asked Gill to arrange for him to tell you what it is like in the hope that a few more of you will want to try it. Watch out for him in the near future.
As usual, some of us have attended the Lancashire Association Training Days, Branch Meetings, and neighbouring Practice Nights. A change this year is that the Monday night Ribble Valley practice which used to rotate among Waddington, Bolton by Bowland and Clitheroe, now comes to Whalley on Tuesday instead of Clitheroe on a Monday. Some of those ringers still come to support us on the other Tuesdays when work often keeps some of our own ringers away.
Ringing for weddings, Pickwick Night, and half-muffled ring for Remembrance Day have featured as previously, as also has our Annual Dinner, once more at the Calf’s Head.
We have not been quite as successful at ringing all eight bells on Sundays, so please think about joining us – 822056 is the number to ring !