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Welcome to Bell Ringing at All Saints’ Staplehurst

All Saints Tower Works

6/10/24 Update

Due to restricted access to the tower during part of the works on the roof, our bells have been silent for the past month.

This morning , we’re back ( at least for now).

View from All Saints Ringing Room
Bell Ringing at All Saints' Staplehurst

Staplehurst Bell Ringers are a friendly band and enjoy ringing together for services, special occasions and practice nights. We are very happy to welcome new recruits and pass on our skills to keep this traditional practice going forward.  Our glorious 10 bells are well maintained, easy going and enjoyable to ring.  We hope you enjoy hearing them too! 

Ringing church bells can be learned by people of all ages from about 10 upwards but you will need to be able to climb the spiral staircase first.  Unfortunately, there is no lift access to the tower so ringers must be reasonably fit.  Ringing is a great activity for the whole family and stretches both mind and body in ways you never thought possible! 

The regular practice night is from 19.30 to 21.15 every Tuesday evening, service ringing 09.15-10.00 on Sundays and at other times by arrangement.  There is no obligation to attend services after ringing.  For a fee, the bells at Staplehurst can also be rung for weddings, funerals, celebration of life or any other special occasion or anniversary. 

You are welcome to come up to the tower and see what we do on a Tuesday evening (but please contact the Tower Captain in advance to agree a time) or join us in the Kings Head after ringing from 21.15.  Don’t be afraid of coming and having a chat with us over a glass of something refreshing after ringing the bells! 

If you would like any more information, please contact –  Adam Brady – Tower Captain 

All Saints Church Website (External link)

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Staplehurst Bellringers Report April 2025

Staplehurst Bellringers Report February 2025

NEWS FROM THE TOWER

As regular readers of this column will know, we place great importance on the training of new ringers, both for our own tower and the wider ringing community. To this end we hosted two very well-supported training courses in March, both organised by Sue Bassett.

Over the years, Sue has taught many people to ring at Staplehurst, and she is also County Training Officer for the whole of Kent. This year marks 50 years since she herself learnt to ring, and she is planning to celebrate this landmark by ringing a peal on Staplehurst bells on Saturday, 12th April. The peal will commence at around 10 am and there will be continuous ringing until around 1.15 pm.

Other than this, no additional ringing is scheduled for April. We have no visiting bands of ringers and there are no weddings on the calendar, so we will only be ringing for the usual Sunday Services and our Tuesday practice from 7.30 pm – 9.15 pm. As ever, you can find up-to-date details at https://bells.allsaintsstaplehurst.co.uk/

Finally, the Staplehurst ringers wish everyone a very Happy Easter.

Roy Barclay

Tower Secretary

Visiting Us

All Saints Church Website (Opens in new tab)

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Staplehurst Bellringers Report March 2025

Staplehurst Bellringers Report February 2025

NEWS FROM THE TOWER

Following a quiet start to the new year, activity in the tower will be picking up during March.  We start on Saturday 1st with an all-day training course from 9am – 5pm but fear not, ringing will be on our simulator which means the sound will be heard inside the tower but not outside.  We also have a similar event on Saturday 29th March.  Then on 5th March we hope to be ringing for the 8pm Ash Wednesday Service. 

At the Morning Service on Mothering Sunday 30th March we will also be ringing during the “clipping” of the church. This is a tradition, thought to be unique to Staplehurst, where the congregation encircle the church building as if to embrace mother church.  If anyone would like to know more about the history of this event I am sure the Rector would be happy to enlighten you. Otherwise we will be ringing for the usual Sunday Services and on our usual Tuesday Practice night.

We are always happy to welcome new ringers.  If you would like to find out more please contact me on 01580 890247 or just drop in on our Tuesday Practice Night between 7.30 – 9.15pm.

Roy Barclay

Tower Secretary

Visiting Us

All Saints Church Website (Opens in new tab)

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Staplehurst Bellringers Report January 2025

Staplehurst Bellringers Report February 2025

NEWS FROM THE TOWER

The Staplehurst Bellringers hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and wish you all the best for the New Year.

The early copy deadline for this issue means that this report was written before the start of the Christmas festivities, but by the time you read this we will be approaching the end of what is always a busy time for our ringers. The first event was on the evening of Tuesday 17th December when 22 of our ringers, along with partners and friends, enjoyed our Christmas meal at The King’s Head and a great time was had by all. In addition to the normal Sunday Services we will also hopefully have rung for the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday 22nd December, the Christingle Service on Christmas Eve, for Midnight Mass and on Christmas Morning. We will also have enjoyed our traditional New Year’s Party, this year kindly hosted again by Sue and Chris Bassett, and will have “rung in” 2025.

We are hoping that the New Year brings with it the completion of the work on the turret and spirelet. At the time of writing the work looks to be on time with all the scaffolding down hopefully by late January. Thanks to further donations (including that from our ringers’ own fund) the church are now within sight of the sum required to complete the project.

Things quieten down a bit in the New Year, and during January we will just be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday services.

Roy Barclay

Tower Secretary

Visiting Us

All Saints Church Website (Opens in new tab)