Stories from 'A history of change ringing in Scotland'

Fun with Bells

In this month’s fascinating episode, Simon Aves takes host Cathy Booth on an entertaining romp through Scotland’s bell ringing history. You may be surprised to learn it is very different to England’s.

Who knew the Scots were so fond of peace and quiet? Cathy learns that in the past the best way to annoy people in Dundee was to travel up there and ring all their bells. And beware of the constable waiting at the bottom of the tower to arrest you for that very noisy peal you just rang. Or worse still, the constable might well follow you to the pub and then ban you from ringing, perish the thought!
Of course, all of this is history - very colourful history and brilliantly told at that. First bells, first peals, first women ringers, colourful characters, court cases and ringers being sick after their eight pints, this podcast has it all.

Top 5 Takeaways

• Read Simon’s book ‘A History of Change Ringing in Scotland’ on Amazon Kindle
• Are you up for the Inveraray challenge? Find out more about the bell tower and its fascinating history http://inveraraybelltower.co.uk/index.shtml
• Discover more about bell ringing in Scotland https://www.sacr.org
• Why not research and write the history of your tower or association
• For something completely different, why not plan a tower outing to a Worbey and Farrell performance! http://www.worbeyandfarrell.com

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored by the Association of Ringing Teachers (ART). To find out more about learning to ring, learning to teach or other resources to support your ringing go to bellringing.org

Podcast team:
Anne Tansley Thomas
Emily Roderick
John Gwynne
Emily Watts
Cathy Booth
Ringing by:
The Cambridge Youths (supplied by David Richards) and for later episodes, The Liliputters Guild (supplied by Simon Edwards).

Hoofdstukken

1. Stories from 'A history of change ringing in Scotland' (00:00:00)

2. Introduction (00:00:26)

3. Definition of change ringing (00:01:49)

4. Towers in Scotland and the history of why so few compared to England (00:02:10)

5. First change ringing bells in Scotland (00:03:48)

6. English born people ringing the bells in Scotland (00:06:09)

7. Who paid for the bells, historically and why (00:07:00)

8. St Nicholas Church, Aberdeen (00:07:32)

9. Historical reputation of bell ringers in Scotland (00:10:31)

10. The bells of Alloa and Arthur Hallen (00:13:03)

11. Ringing by women in Scotland (00:15:57)

12. St Mary's Edinburgh (00:18:03)

13. The Scottish Association (00:20:25)

14. 1998 - a new tradition (00:25:45)

15. About the book 'A history of change ringing in Scotland' (00:27:03)

16. Simon's favourite ring of bells apart from his regular tower (00:29:23)

17. Simon's experiences as a writer (00:30:25)

18. Credits (00:31:44)