Thatcham bell-ringers join record books
The team from St Mary's Church is now only one of five in Britain to have rung a full peal of bells 1,000 times
THE bellringers at St Mary's Church, Thatcham, have chimed their way into the record books by ringing a full peal of bells for the thousandth time.
The team took on the challenge on Friday evening by playing a peal of 5,040 changes of Cambridge Surprise Royal.
By completing their thousandth full peal of bells, the team is the first tower in the home counties to do so, and fifth in the UK.
There are 5,686 bell towers in Britain.
Ten bellringers took part in the challenge and completed it within two hours and 50 minutes.
Thatcham's team rector, the Rev Mark Bennet, congratulated them on their success.
He presented the conductor, 81-year-old William Butler, of Thatcham, with a magnum of champagne.
Mr Butler thanked the church for its part in the hallenge.
“We were very successful,” he said. There is quite a lot of physical and metal effort involved in it.
"It is quite a remarkable achievement.”
Mr Butler, who composed Cambridge Surprise Royal, has rung the bells at the Church Gate church since 1961 and was tower captain from 1962 to 2000.
He first rang in 1945, when he was 15-years-old.
Tower secretary Margaret Robinson added: “It is very popular because the bells are particularly good ones to ring.
“We get a lot of visiting ringers.
“I'm very proud, and pleased, for them.”
A ring or peal of bells is a lengthy series of variations on the order of the different notes of the bells.
A peal can take anything up to three hours.
However, if one note is incorrect, the ringers must start again.
St Mary's Church has 10 bells, the lightest weighing 280lbs and the heaviest 1,479lbs.
The first full peal was rung at St Mary's in 1926.
The thousandth peal team consisted of Brian Bladon, of Swindon, William Butler, of Thatcham, Beryl Norris, of Farnborough, Michael Till, of Winchester Cathedral, Timothy Pett, of Abingdon, Helen Piper, of Kingsclere, Diana Bridle, of Midgham, J Alan Ainsworth, of Amersham, Colin Turner, of Milton, and Peter Bridle, of Midgham
