Bell ringing St David's, Bangor, Gwynedd

Ringing at St David's Bangor, on the back six of the eight (13-1-21 in F#). Call changes. Installed in the free-standing brick tower in 1888 these bells are not easy to ring well and sometimes temperamental! There is some frame and tower movement. A rehang may be on the cards in the next few years - anyone want to give us some money?!

The church was built in 1884-8 to the design of Arthur Blomfield and although it has quite a severe exterior it is a fine Victorian church with some good stained glass. It was built for the railway community of Glanadda and at first all the ringers worked on the railways. St David's probably had one of the best bands around at the time, capable of ringing peals of surprise major and many other methods, many of which were the first in Wales. Certainly this standard of ringing was uncommon outside London and other large cities.

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[timmeh1507]

The tower was added 4 years later in 1888, and is just connected to the church by a low passageway, so it gets no structural support from the building. I like the bells quite a lot but they're not easy to ring due to frame/tower movement

[pal05pmajor3]

is this the one just out side of llandudno?

[timmeh1507]

about 15 miles west on the A55 yes. Coming to practice tomorrow?

[pal05pmajor3]

no i'm afraid i'm going back home tomorrow. do u ring here do you?

[timmeh1507]

aww well if you're around again we always welcome visiting ringers. I ring here in university termtime, they are a bit demanding but I like them.

[meme2702]

Thanks!

[vincent0ne]

The affected ringers change on the next hand stroke(where the sally is being pulled which is furry part of the rope). If they were ringing a method(which is series of changes, like a tune which can only be rang once on each stroke) things are different the ringers are expected to remember places out of 6 bells for examples, they go to 2nd, 3rd 4th 5th 6th places and back in different orders until it comes back to how it started off(rounds), some people count the places or use rope sight(I do)

[meme2702]

Thank you very much!

With the "normal" changes do ringers know already when and how to change?

[vincent0ne]

Call changes are changes of orders of the bells on conductor's say so. If the bells was ringing from 123456 in order and conductor shouted 2 to 3 then the order will be 132456 and etc.

They are good practice for bellringers, Devon ringers use it a lot.

[vincent0ne]

Lovely bells as answer for meme2702, Call Changes are swapping on bell's sequences by the conductor shouting something like 2 to 3, so the 2nd bell will end up following the 3rd if it just came from rounds(bells ring in order from high to low). These are used to practice with learner as well as experienced people doing it.

[meme2702]

Excuse me, I don't know much about change ringing: what are the call changes?