My Day in Chester And North Wales

On the 5th of October I went on a bell-ringing trip to Chester and North Wales with the Sheffield Branch of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers. The trip was also for non-ringers who could spend a day in Chester.

1.The first church was St Lawrence in Frodsham it had 8 bells. The bells were O.K. but not the easiest to ring.

2.The second church had 12 bells. It was a bit hard to stay together and ring rounds and I didn’t really like them. We were actually at a Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, it had a separate bell tower, built in the 1970’s and the bells were also a bit heavier. This was where we dropped all the non-ringers for their day in Chester.

3.The third church was also the first in North Wales which was called St Matthew, in Buckley, this church had 8 bells as well, they were a bit heavy at first but after that they were fine.

4.The fourth church (the second and last in Wales) was All Saints

at Gresford. This also had 8 bells. They were a bit heavier but fine after a while, they also had low sallies.

5.The fifth church was back in England which was in Eccleston, St Mary the blessed Virgin, the 8 bells were bit heavier still, but you got used to it after a while.

6.The last church was in Handbridge; this was called St Mary without the wall (as it stood outside the walls of ancient Chester). That had the heaviest bells (equal to the back 8 at the Cathedral) but they were easy and smooth. This is where we picked up the non-ringers who had enjoyed their day out.

We then returned to Sheffield, however rather than the radio we had the sound of hand bells being rung at the back of the coach.