CHESTER DIOCESAN GUILD OF CHURCH BELL RINGERS SNIPPETS - 'BITS AND PIECES' FOR WIRRAL RINGERS Do please email me, Web Master, if you have information such as the following if you think it may be of interest to other Wirral ringers.

Date
16 Nov 2009	BELLS OF PRAISE Advent Sunday (29th November) sees the transmission of BBC’s ‘Songs of Praise’ programme recorded at Christ Church, Port Sunlight recently. The programme is to open to the sound of the bells, albeit just about 30 seconds worth – two leads of Plain Hunt on 7, the performance repeated several times to enable recording, in turn, outside the church and in the Ringing Chamber and Bell Chamber. The Sunday Service band, which was required to assemble at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday 11th October, was not permitted the 3 hours practice afforded to the imported choirs and invited congregation! Two of the young ringers (twins Kyle and Kieran Houghton) are likely to feature in a BBC programme about the village some time next year.
27 May 2009	Two Wirral ringers participated in the perormance of John Lennon's Imagine on Liverpool Cathedral Bells on 16 May. (The link takes you a video-clip of the ringing on YouTube
15 Apr 2008	News of an accident to an Oxfordshire bellringer is reported today on the BBC website. (Note that this link will work only as long as the BBC keep this item on its website)
10 Oct 2007	From Dr James LeFanu’s ‘Second Opinion’ column in the Sunday Telegraph… dated 29 September 2007… If you’d still like to be hang gliding at 60, try bell ringing FURTHER TO the recent comments on "inversion therapy" for back pain as featured in this column, a reader suggests the ancient art of campanology might be similarly beneficial. Here the rhythmic action of pulling on the bell rope not only stretches the spine, thus taking pressure off any trapped nerves, but strengthens the back muscles at the same time. "I have suffered on and off with back pain for many years," she writes. "But since taking up tower bell ringing two years ago I have had no recurrence". Further similar reports would be much appreciated. …and the following week (7 October 2007) MANY READERS attest to the therapeutic benefits of bell ringing as described in this column last week, including a fireman from Wendover who sustained severe injuries to his pelvis and lower spine in an accident at work. Despite many operations and much physiotherapy he remained incapacitated. Within a few months of taking up bell ringing his spine has straightened and his pelvis was so improved he could return to work. But that is not all, for a rhythmical tugging on the rope strengthens the forearms, relieving the symptoms of Repetitive Strain Injury, and intense concentration keeps cognitive decline at bay. Together these benefits for bell ringers explain why many can carry on into their eighties and nineties. "You are also part of an amazing network that covers much of the English-¬speaking world," writes Susan Bradshaw from Somerset. "Wherever you go you will be warmly welcomed into a group of friends." Those so inclined can apparently take it up at any age. The only drawback is that it can be addictive.