Welcome to the Benefice of
St. Mary Henlow and St. Andrew Langford
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| Bell Ringing Today We have an active band at St. Mary's, which rings the bells in the traditional change ringing style. We ring for the Sunday morning Service between 10:30 and 11:00 but on special occasions we may ring a Quarter Peal. Practice is on Tuesday from 20:00 until 21:00. The bells are also rung on New Year's Eve and for major state occasions. Visitors are always most welcome to join in our ringing and we look forward to meeting you. The tower has achieved success over many years in striking competitions organised by the Bedfordshire Association of Church Bell Ringers. We are keen to teach new ringers from within the parish and we encourage people of all ages. To hear our bells click here Downloading this file may take a little longer. Each year we have a ringing holiday weekend and details of this year's event can been seen below. To look at other national Bell Ringing websites and resources click here Ringing Records We have a database of all Peals, Quarter's and 720's rung on the bells since the early 1930's and summaries of these may be viewed by clicking on Peals Quarters 720s Downloading these files may take a little longer. History The details in the table below show how the ring of bells has evolved over the years. The first mention of bells in the tower was in 1615 when one was said to have been cracked. From the table below it can be seen that bells were cast in 1628, 1638 and 1650. In 1750 the 7th (old 4th) was recast as it was cracked. The Tenor was recast in 1877 after having been smashed and the four other bells were re-hung at the same time. In 1931 a treble, cast by Mears and Stainbank of Whitechapel, was added to make a ring of six. Following the augmentation a change ringing band was formed and the first full peal's on the bells were rung. In 1979 two new treble bells, cast by Taylor's of Loughborough, were added and sound control introduced. The back six bells are housed in a wooden frame and the Treble and Second on steel beams above. The weight of the older bells is approximate.
2008 Annual Ringing Weekend This year we visited Warwickshire. On Saturday we rang at Brailes, Shipston on Stour, Wellesbourne, Leek Wootton, Stoke (Coventry) and Coventry Cathedral. Sunday was spent at Warwick, Leamington Spa and Kenilworth. On Monday we visited St. Andrew, Rugby where we rang both set of bells.
2007 Bedfordshire Association of Church Bellringers Striking Competition Our tem of ringers came second in the county striking competition held in September. The event took place on the light ring of bells at St. Mary, Kensworth.
2007 Annual Ringing Weekend Our outing this year was to Northumbria. We rang at Newcastle Cathedral, Newcastle St. Matthew and St. John, Morpeth Curfew Tower, Berwick Town Hall, Bamburgh, North Shields and some smaller villages. We also took time to visit Holy Island.
This year's outing took us to Wiltshire. We rang at Bath Abbey, Devizes, Trowbridge, Bradford on Avon and some surrounding villages.
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