The ringers decided that the tenth anniversary of the formation of the band and the restoration of the bells. They decided that this needed to be celebrate and that it should be done it style!
The ringers kicked things off on January 1st by restarting the tradition of ringing in the New Year. As the clock struck midnight, the tenor bell tolled 12 before the remaining six bells joined in. During the summer Aaron and Fiona took part in a sponsored skydive! You can read about their experience with a number of events which including a sponsored skydive and Tower Open Day. The anniversary culminate in a special service conducted by the Canon Sally Theakston.
The ringers have also not been scared to start their own traditions. One of these is the ringing for the Service of Remembrance held in November. As well as ringing the bells before the service the tenor is tolled as the congregation file out to the War Memorial, after which the bells ring for 30 minutes after the laying of the wreaths.
The bell ringers have also made sure that important events in the village are marked by the ringing of bells. This has included ringing to celebrate milestones in organisations which are based in the village. This has include the anniversary of the bowls club next door also for the parade which made up the village carnival day.
The ringers also decided it was time to join the world wide web and launched their first website which has grown over the years. They also joined Facebook and Twitter growing their follows bit by bit. More recently they have join Instagram and youtube. They've also started to live stream some of the ringing they've do. Sadly there have been occasions when technology has got the better of the ringers but they always manage to get a number of people viewing any ringing they do.
The Swanton Morley Bell Ringers were proud to be a part of the 2018 campaign 'Ringing Remembers". The campaign was set up to honour their memory by recruiting 1,400 new bell ringers and have them be part of a nationwide moment by ringing on the centenary of the Armistice on 11 November 2018. Swanton Morley recruited 5 new ringers, which would have been one new ringer per bell as there was in the tower at the time of World War One.
The ringers have also moved with the times. They now regularly live stream their ringing which always draws a big crowd (when technology allows us to!).
The ringers always endeavour to ring for all services held at All Saints Church. We have a dedicated team of Sunday service ringers, who make sure that the bells of All Saints are rung every Sunday there is a service to welcome the congregation to the church. In addition to the usual Sunday Services the bells are often rung for weddings, funerals and other important services throughout the year.
We are always looking for new people to join our band and take up the art of bell ringing, if you think you’d be please have a look at the “Interested in Learning” page of this website.
