A Summer Evening at Ely, July 12th 2024
The venue was St Marys Church, previously visited on November 26th 2016. On this occasion we joined the local ringers at their weekly Friday evening practice and were made most welcome by Tower Captain Simon Smith and his band. Organised by Janet our party comprised Christine,Janice, Phillip, Angela, Lawrence, myself and Janet who earlier in her life had been a regular visitor to St Marys and was well known to some of the local band.
St Mary's bells are a ring of eight with a tenor of 17 cwt, seven of them cast in 1781 by George Oldfield whose foundry was initially at St Neots before moving to Leicester. The odd one out, No 3, was cast in 1767 by Joseph Eayre . All were re-hung in an oak frame by Taylors in 1939 and are rung from a mezzanine ringing room accessed by a short (thank heavens) flight of spiral stairs and affording a superb view of the interior of the church, an excellent combination of new and old, complete with underfloor heating.
I hope we all enjoyed our ringing, from call changes to Plain Bob and Grandsire Triples. I had to smile when one of the local band, seeing Janet take the tenor rope and no doubt thinking the bell was rather heavy for a woman said "Is she going to ring that" "Yes" I replied, "I'm sure she will have no problem" She rang it with ease as had Angela earlier in the evening. There were many of us in the ringing room, one young woman bringing her dog, a cross Staffordshire, and also a young twelve year old lad who was having a go on the treble. I was pleased to see him as youngsters learning to ring are unfortunately few nowadays. The ground floor of the tower, known as "The Tower Room" has been transformed into a comfortable space, more akin to a drawing room rather than the damp and gloomy areas one normally encounters. Here a table had been set up with refreshments, tea, cakes etc which were much appreciated.
The evening concluded with a visit to "The Prince Albert", apparently once an officers mess, which advertises itself as "a proper pub". No doubt about that as there were ten real ales on tap, myself taking a glass of St Austell Tribute. What nectar after bell ringing, which at times can be rather thirsty work. Conversing with Simon Smith I complemented him on his choice of pub. "Yes " he replied, "that's why we come here" from which I gather they are regular Friday evening customers.
So readers, our evening came to a close, not really a summer evening as this years prevailing easterly wind was more akin to winter than summer. However the warm welcome received from St Mary's ringers more than compensated for the inclement weather . I noticed it had started raining as I sat in Angela's car on the return journey , but was able to relax as she was in the driving seat! In conclusion and on behalf of our group, many thanks to Janet for organising a most enjoyable Summer Evening at Ely. . John Bennett