To see the Swanage bells being rung click on the links below.
Some of the more recent videos are from ringing in the New Year on different New Year’s Eves, but there are also videos from bellringing outings and ringing for a wedding in 2007.
When we ring in in the New Year we tend to ring the bells very slowly as we approach midnight, with sequential standing of all the bells in turn. That is, we ring all 8 bells, then stand the treble, then stand the 2, then stand the 3 and so on until at midnight the only bell left ringing is the tenor for 12 blows, then the other bells then quickly start again and we then go into very fast joyous rounds to ring in the New Year. After that we then do things we never normally do, such as, we “fire” the bells which entails all the bells being rung at exactly the same time (not as easy as it sounds especially if you have just had a few drinks!). We also do “jump” call changes and we sometimes do the hokey-cokey whilst ringing! Much fun, and a few drinks, is had by all!
