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for a quick breather and a chat. Tim asked if I would like to climb up the rickety ladders and see the bells themselves. A couple of minutes later, after I’ve done battle with various cobwebs I realise I’m standing at the back of the clock, with its huge swinging pendulum. Tim has to come up here regularly to adjust the mechanism, as the clock tends to lose a few minutes a week. I climb one more set of stairs before I get to the actual bells. Some of these clanging giants have been here for nearly 100 years; the same bells that rang out on VE day. I asked Tim what got him into bell ring- ing all those years ago. “I started as a cub at St Clements. We all gave it a go one evening and I really enjoyed it and start- ed going every week. The thing with bell ringing is you don’t need any experience, you can pick it all up as you go along.” He thinks the pastime might have a bit of a starchy repu- tation which puts people off joining. “The hardest part about getting new members is just convincing them to come through the door. When here they would see that it is good fun, there’s great camaraderie and at half time we have tea and the best snacks! I would like it if every person who lived in Dartmouth came and tried it once.” The team tries to encourage new members during the regatta morning bells. “We are Dartmouth’s wake up
The bells at St
Clement’s are lighter ...ringers would learn their skills there before being allowed to progress to St Saviour’s.
call every regatta ringing out at 8am each day. People come in to watch and we try and sign up a few people when they’re here. Our youngest members are two little four-year-old twins who visit each year on holiday. They always come in and we have a mini uniform for them!” If Wednesday is tricky, you could attend the St Clements bell ringing session, which is on a Monday evening at the earlier time of 6.30pm. They are trying to attract younger people from the top of town. The youngest member up there at present is 10. The bells at St Clement’s are lighter and up until 50 years ago it was the training church – ringers would learn their skills there before being allowed to progress to St Saviour’s. It’s not all tea, jammy dodgers and
chatting though, the team is regularly called on to ring for weddings and special events. Tim says the diary can
soon fill up: “We used to be separate bell ringers at each church but St Saviour’s and St Clement’s merged two years ago which means it can be quite busy when there is a run of events and it’s my job to make sure we provide a full team.” He says he is an easygoing guy and only gets a bit
ratty when people aren’t paying attention in rehears- als! “You have to realise that this isn’t a quiet practice in a back room somewhere – everyone can hear us, ev- eryone knows if we make a mistake.” But Tim concedes that getting it wrong isn’t always bad: “One regatta we made a mistake that actually sounded really good but we couldn’t repeat it because no one could remember what we did!”
If you are interested ring Tim on 01803 833754. Composite decking Glass balustrades
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