St Oswalds Church in Oswestry has a dedicated team of bell ringers.
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00:00 Hi John!
00:02 Welcome!
00:04 Right, go on Jenny, I'll follow you.
00:14 So this is your daily steps in getting them in.
00:18 So that's access to the church.
00:20 And then the ancient steps.
00:26 You can smell the difference as well, can't you? The air becomes damp.
00:31 Yeah, very true actually.
00:33 You may want to smell the wood on the camera as well.
00:35 All that smell of the wood.
00:37 So we've got this fantastic recess, you can see the depth of the wall tonight.
00:48 Oh wow, yeah.
00:54 Wow, it really is, isn't it?
00:56 We've even got names carved on here.
00:58 I mean, there's no way of knowing how old these are, is there really?
01:01 Since the tower was built, I suspect people were scratching their names.
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03:06 Hello, so yeah, I'm Brian Rothera, I'm the tower captain at Ozzer Street here.
03:16 We've just finished bell ringing for Sunday service.
03:19 Bell ringing is a fantastic hobby, really unusual.
03:23 You know, not like so many things these days which involve looking at a screen.
03:27 We have a great bunch of bell ringers of all ages, from 15 to 75 I think, probably at least.
03:33 And we meet two or three times a week.
03:36 It's not just a good physical hobby, you know, getting these things moving,
03:40 some of them weighing hundreds of kilograms, but also a great mental workout as well.
03:44 There's lots of things to learn in terms of the tunes that we ring and how we do that.
03:49 And we're a real social bunch as well.
03:51 So we've got a great band here, we've got about 16 of us that ring regularly,
03:55 but we're always looking for new people to come and join us.
03:58 And so we're holding a taster day this January on the 13th,
04:03 and hoping that people will come along and give it a go, see if it's something they'd like to take up.
04:08 How long have you been involved yourself, Brian?
04:10 So I've been ringing bells since I was nine years old, so about 45 years.
04:14 So nine years old, does that mean your family were bell ringers?
04:17 Yeah, well spotted, yeah. Mum and Dad met in a ringing chamber just like this,
04:21 so if I wasn't for bell ringing I wouldn't be here.
04:23 Yeah, I bet that.
04:24 And you've got your lad and your daughter involved?
04:27 Yeah, so actually all three of my children have learned to ring.
04:30 My oldest daughter doesn't live in Oswestry anymore, but the younger two are both regulars in Oswestry, which is great.
04:38 So how old are these bells roughly? Are they all from different dates, or were they all cast and put in...
04:45 So the original eight were put in in 1717, so they're over 300 years old.
04:50 Three have been replaced and altered over the years, but they're all well over 150 years old.
04:56 Yeah, and they'd be replaced because they'd end up with a split?
04:59 Yeah, cracked or something's gone wrong, yeah, and they'd have to be recast.
05:03 So how would you know immediately if there was a small crack? Is there a totally different sound?
05:08 You normally tell, yeah, because they're changing the tone a little bit normally.
05:12 And they've got names cast on them as well, is that in tribute to people that have partly funded them?
05:18 It is, yeah, it's usually people who've given donations to fund the bells,
05:22 and sometimes the vicar's name will be on the bell, but it's normally the benefactors that are on those bells.
05:28 And the bells came on a barge, is that right?
05:32 Yeah, we've got records that the bells came on a barge from Gloucester,
05:35 and somebody was paid a penny, I think, to guard them overnight on the barge,
05:40 at Pool Quay, on the way to Welshpool, and then they came here on horse and cart,
05:44 we think more than likely the following day, before they were put into the tower.
05:48 And then I guess winched up, I guess?
05:50 Yeah, yeah, block and pulley.
05:52 Block and tackle.
05:53 Yeah.
05:54 So Chris, you're a bell ringer, how long have you been at it? Go on.
05:59 Well, I started to ring when I was 21, so over 40 years now.
06:04 Wow, so it keeps you supple I should imagine.
06:06 It does keep you supple, it's a great hobby, it's kept me interested for all those years.
06:12 I've made a lot of friends, it's a very social hobby.
06:17 We all go down to the pub after we've had our practice night on a Thursday,
06:22 and I've rung in lots of towers up and down the country,
06:25 wherever I go, I always pop in and see the local ringers and have a ring with them.
06:29 So it's kind of quite a welcoming community then, you've got that shared experience, you all.
06:34 Absolutely, that's exactly what it is, it's a shared experience,
06:37 that anyone can, once you can ring, you can ring in any tower in the country,
06:41 or in the world actually.
06:45 So Brian, these ropes are very well looked after, they've even got their own heater.
06:49 Yay!
06:51 And you were saying that, because this time of year they can get a bit damp,
06:54 so this just helps with that.
06:57 Yep, we just put them all in there, and this is the load.
06:59 One of our bell ringers built this actually, this is a piece of water pike.
07:05 One of our bell ringers is a father, and he was having a major new water main put through his land,
07:13 and this is a bit of leftover pike that we managed to secure.
07:18 Fantastic.
07:19 And a heater, keeps the ropes warm.
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