The Suffolk Guild of Ringers for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a society and charity supporting the bell ringers and rings of bells in the

Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a Church of England diocese based in Ipswich, covering Suffolk (excluding Lowestoft). The cathedral is St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and the bishop is the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is part ...

who practice the art of

change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...

. The Guild was established on 2 April 1923 at

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

and covers over 200 rings of bells in the county of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

in the area that falls within the diocese boundary.

Origins

Prior to the creation of the

the western half of the county was part of the

Diocese of Ely The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely. There is one suffragan bishop, suffragan (subordinate) bishop, the Bisho ...

and the eastern half was part of the

Diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Church of England, forming part of the Province of Canterbury in England. Its origins trace back to the early medieval bishopric of See of Elmham, Elmham and Thetford, which were ...

and therefore ringers were members of the respective associations being the Ely Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers (EDACR) and the Norwich Diocesan Association of Ringers (NDAR). After the diocese was created in 1914 Ely Diocesan Association adopted the name 'The Ely and St. Edmundsbury Diocesan Association' whilst the Norwich Diocesan Association was known as 'The Norwich and Ipswich Association.' The impetus for the formation of an Suffolk association came mainly from the west of the county but this met with much opposition particularly from (NDAR). The Suffolk County Association, the first solely Suffolk based ringing organisation, was formed on 5 February 1921, at Lavenham, under the mastership of Stedman Symonds, but soon changed its name to the Suffolk Diocesan Association at Easter. On 29 April 1922, there was another change of name to the St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocesan Association. Finally on 2 April 1923 the Suffolk Guild of Ringers was formed after a meeting at St. Mary le Tower Church House,

with Charles Sedgley being elected master and Rev. Herbert Drake as secretary.

Operations

As of the end of 2019 the Guild has 776 members from 198 towers with ringable bells. Its listed objects are to supporting the recruitment and training of bellringers and cultivating the art of scientific ringing alongside promoting and supporting the restoration and augmentation of rings of bells. The Guild is affiliated to the

Central Council of Church Bell Ringers The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) is an organisation founded in 1891 which represents ringers of church bells in the English style. It acts as a co-ordinating body for education, publicity and codifying change ringing rules, ...

(CCCBR), a global organisation representing all those who practice

Change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...

, and currently sends four representatives to be part of the Council.

Governance

A mixture of elected and appointed officers run the Guild with Guild Management Committee being the main decision making body. The chairman, secretary, treasurer, and ringing master make up the executive and are trustees of Guild which is registered as a charity. The Guild is split into four districts to encourage ringing at a local level through education and training. Each district covers a geographical quarter of the diocese, North East, South East, North West, and South West electing their own ringing master, secretary, treasurer along with representatives to the Guild's committees.

Ringing

Aside from regular religious services, ringing is often conducted for special occasions such as anniversaries, memorials and other locally or nationally significant events. There are weekly evening practices held at around 80 towers across the Guild where all skills of

are taught and practiced including

method ringing Method ringing (also known as scientific ringing) is a form of change ringing in which the ringers commit to memory the rules for generating each change of sequence, and pairs of bell (instrument), bells are affected. This creates a form of bell mu ...

. Each district in Guild has a rolling programme of monthly events at a different towers allowing ringers to socialise and practice more advance ringing, events will include outings outside of the Guild, striking contests, and socials. The members of the Guild regularly ring

peals The Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre (PEALS) was established in 1999 as a partnership between the University of Durham, Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public r ...

, as defined by the

. Between its formation and the end of 2019 there has been 9812

rung for the Guild. Quarter peals, which are performances of continuous method ringing last approximately 45 mins, are also regularly rung by members with around 530 being recorded in 2019. Beccles - Church tower

Notable members

Imogen Holst Imogen Clare Holst (; 12 April 1907 – 9 March 1984) was a British composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and festival administrator. The only child of the composer Gustav Holst, she is particularly known for her education ...

was an honorary member and selected a recording of Debenham bells as one of her

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

Striking contests

There are three annual striking competitions held by the Guild as well as a number held at district level. The three Guild contests are: *Rose trophy for eight bell method ringing *Mitson shield for six bell method ringing *Lester Brett trophy for six bell call change ringing A combined band is sent represent the Guild as a whole at the East Anglian Ridgman trophy for ten bell method ringing.

Rose Trophy

Mitson Shield

Events

Ipswich Christmas Ringing

Since 1993 Guild members have rung all the bells at the churches in Ipswich town centre on the Saturday before Christmas.

St Edmund's day

The Guild supported the campaign to restore

Edmund the Martyr Edmund the Martyr (also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia, died 20 November 869) was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death. Few historical facts about Edmund are known, as the kingdom of East Anglia was devastated by t ...

as patron saint of England by coordinating annual ringing of bells across Suffolk on his feast day of the 20 November due to his connection with Suffolk.

Ringing for Peace Armistice 100

On the 100th anniversary of the armistice November 2018 members of the Guild rang the bells at all the ringable towers in the diocese in a single day to mark the commemorations, a feat which had never been attempted before.

Affiliated towers

The towers covered by the Guild which contain four or more bells hung for

North East District

North West District

South East District

South West District

External links

Guild website

References

{{bells Bell ringing societies in England Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Organizations established in 1923 1923 establishments in England