Peal Anxiety
Living in Northumberland I feel very blessed to be part of Morpeth Clock tower which is one of two town council rings in the Northeast. As part of our civic duties, each year in March we ring a peal after Mayor-Making at the town hall for every new incoming Mayor. If you ever manage to visit our tower, you will see proudly displayed peal boards from 1984 onwards celebrating every Mayor continuously until 2020 when the pandemic curtailed our continuous tradition. However, the Mayor’s peal is also for me a time of anxiety! Every year our peal secretary pulls together a band and as I’m not only a member of the tower, but Rector of the Town and Mayor’s Chaplain, there seems to be an expectation that I will ring even though I’m not really a peal ringer. So, I say yes and pray that we ring something simple, and I don’t muck it up!
A few years ago, we rang Dungannon in honor of the current mayor’s birth town in Northern Ireland, anxiety level 4! This year we rang Lessness as the conductor thought it might be fun! Anxiety level 2 as I was ringing the treble. So yet again my anxiety levels started to rise. As we start the peal I start hoping and praying I don’t go to sleep halfway through the peal or go into a sudden and deep trance and then abruptly wake up from my coma internally screaming “where am I?” and “what’s going on?” struggling to even remember the method we are ringing. It’s possibly one of the most terrifying things to happen to any ringer and even more terrifying if you have only 10 minutes of a three-hour peal left! That happened to me during Dungannon and fortunately the band was strong enough to nudge me back into place with a few sharp and direct shouts and waves from a very experienced conductor… thank goodness!
Peal ringing, as with any ringing, is dependent on the whole band. Some are more proficient than others, some have the gift of being able to make sense of the chaos when there is a fire up, others have the fortitude to keep doggedly to the line with gritted teeth muttering place bells, others managing to confidently smile and wave at a wayward treble who forgot to lead. Each member is as important as the other, as even the uber-proficient poker-faced professional can miss a dodge now and then! But together I have seen many a peal rescued from disaster as the whole band puts on a determined effort, coaxing and cajoling each other to the final lead to the eventual relief hearing the conductor say “that’s all”.
Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 12:12) tells us there is one body and many parts, many parts make up the one body. It’s a truth about not just about the Christian life but a truth about any organisation. We all need each other, society needs each other, even those who don’t think they need anyone need others. Paul tells us the foot needs the hand, the eye needs the ear and vice-versa, the body can only function with all the other parts present. So it is with bellringing too. However proficient, or inexperienced we all need each other, we are all accountable to each other and should always seek to be as one. Let us today all seek to be unified in all we think do and say? So anxiety level 0 at the moment… until next March!
Simon White
Rector of Morpeth.