A SPECIAL three-hour-long peal will ring out in Staindrop next month to mark the centenary of St Mary’s Church bells.
Despite their age, the sound of the eight antique bells is described as being among the best in the region.
A special event is planned for April 5, when assistant Bishop Rt Revd Frank White will bless the bells and Lord Barnard will cut a commemorative cake.
Various activities and crafts are planned for the day, including children learning to ring out their own tunes with hand bells.
St Mary’s tower captain Mark Palmer said members of the Durham and Newcastle Bellringers Association will undertake the lengthy peal.
He said: “They will be ringing before and then after the service, when we have what is called an appeal attempt when some very brave souls are going to try to ring 5,040-odd changes in three hours on these bells. It is something we do to commemorate important events.”
Mr Palmer added that the first record of St Mary’s having bells was from 1552 which showed three of them.
He added: “Then in 1631 they cast two more bells, so they would have had a set of five. Then in 1685, Samuel Smith, of York, recast the bells to make another five, so the previous ones obviously weren’t very successful.”
The number was increased to six in 1787 when new bells were cast by William and Thomas Meares of Whitechapel in London.
Mr Palmer said: “They served the tower well until they became very difficult to ring apparently. Revd Spurrier proposed the six weren’t ringable, we gather, and started raising funds to have them completely recast and made into an eight.”
The new bells cost £1,000, a hefty sum in 1925.
Mr Palmer has been bellringing, a family tradition, for about 40 years and started in his early teens.
Since then he has rung bells across the country, including those of Durham Cathedral, while studying at university.
He said: “It has been a wonderful hobby because I have travelled all over the country, with study and work, and everywhere I have gone I have always been welcomed in by the ringers from the local church. It has been a fabulous hobby just to get to know people.
“[Staindrop’s] are an absolutely beautiful set of bells, the tonal sound of them is just exceptional.
“As one of our learners would say ‘even those who are banging around and bashing around they actually sound beautiful’, and that is unusual. They are definitely one of the nicer set of eight in this area.”
The celebratory event gets underway at 10.30am on Saturday, April 5.
