There are so many good reasons! Bell ringing in Britain is a unique tradition because the bells ring full circle, giving the opportunity for huge number of different sequences of notes. Bell ringing has a number of proven personal benefits in terms of modest exercise (at lower cost than the gym!), intellectual stimulation (which many suggest reduces the risk of things like dementia) and opportunities to visit a wide range of interesting towers and Churches.

Almost anybody! Whilst many ringers learnt in their teens others have learnt when retired and others at anytime between. Ringing is really inclusive – there are people ringing from wheelchairs and also ringers who are registered blind.

No! If you can reach straight up with both arms and move them smoothly down below your waist in a rhythmical way whilst standing still — and feel you could keep that up for around 15 minutes — you’ll be fine. Although the bells themselves are very heavy (more than many small cars), they swing with very little energy loss. With the right technique, people of all ages and of modest stature can learn to ring. Training usually begins on the lighter bells, with the option to move on to heavier ones as skills develop.

Whilst we are fortunate to have a few musically inclined ringers, in practice most ringers are not musical as ringing is more about the sequence in which the bells are rung than about tunes. Coordination is critical to control the bell, but few of us have perfect coordinate and like all things practice helps.

Generally it will become obvious within a very short time whether it is an activity for you. Basic tuition is usually done individually with at least 2 tutors present. 6-10 sessions are usually needed before you can ring with others. Ideally an ability to attend weekly practice nights for around an hour every week whilst learning the basics and then fairly regularly to progress is an absolute minimum. As we aim to have the bells rung every Sunday morning an ability (having learnt to ring) to attend regularly on a Sunday from 9.30am to 10.00am is also important. Not all of the ringers then stay to the service and some of the ringers go on to other Churches to help ensure their services have bells.

No, but obviously whilst learning the more opportunities you have to ring the faster progress is made. Similarly if we had a large number of ringers then with only 8 needed to ring all of the bells for a service a rota system could operate. In practice it has, however, been many years since we could regularly field 8 ringers on a Sunday so until numbers build up we would hope to see you as often as possible.

We usually suggest around 13, as the bells at St Peter and St Paul, Great Missenden are relatively large and heavy. However, as young people vary, the best approach is simply to come along to a practice or ask on a Sunday. We have safeguarding arrangements in place, and we ask that a parent or other responsible adult stays for the first few sessions.