Welcome to the new website! After several years, the original website using outdated Joomla software was starting to show its age, and was difficult to update. Linda Johnson is a professional website developer, and has kindly created this site for us, with some input from her husband Dave. Huge thanks are due to them. They are [...]
Barry and Lynne were invited to give the keynote address on the theme of St Clement's ringing centre, at the Essex course in Witham. This is an annual non-residential four-day intensive ringing course. In something of a double act, Barry spoke in detail about setting up our ringing centre, then Lynne gave a brief guide to [...]
Lynne was recently asked to give a talk at the annual conference of the Association of Ringing Teachers in Loughborough. The subject was St Clement's ringing centre, both how it was set up and the current activities. Nikki Thomas from our 'sister' project, the Mancroft ringing discovery centre, did likewise; and we were joined by Hayley [...]
St Clement's has good relations with 'Artspace 5-7' gallery on Portugal Place behind the church. Lynne's interest in a series of sculptures by Richard Bray resulted in her developing a musical interpretation of the sculptures on handbells. A special open evening was put on at the gallery for the performance. Lynne and Barry were joined by [...]
A week after sending an exploratory email to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, I received a phone call saying a reporter could come the following day to do a live broadcast for the breakfast show on 4th July...at 7 in the morning! 16 year old Tomas Arana-Tagle was also able to attend, as they wanted to talk to [...]
Bells rang out across Britain on 8th May 2025, for the 80th anniversary of VE Day. We joined in at St Clement's with an invitation for any ringers to join us, and rang with the bells 'open', that is making their own sounds and not on the simulator. In fact we opened the windows by the [...]
In November we hosted a ringing teacher development day. Run by Lesley Boyle from the Association of Ringing Teachers, this 'Module 2f' course enabled ringing teachers from around the area to share ideas and learn more about teaching the basics of method ringing. A system of mentoring and accreditation is available in the months to follow. [...]
As part of the morning service on 11th August, Father Andrew Day blessed the rehung 'bracket bell', now the 'demonstration bell'. During the blessing, Fr Andrew flicked water onto the bell with a palm leaf, then wafted incense as pictured. The bell was then rung by 6 year old Ellen 'Ned' Richards, watched by the congregation [...]
We are delighted to have a demonstration bell now in the ringing chamber, where the action of the bell can be seen and fully understood. The bell is one of the two original bells from the tower, and is dated 1780. It is small enough for young children to try out safely and have fun with, [...]
On 6th June, a special performance for the anniversary of D-Day was rung as part of our weekly 'Ringing Together' session. The bells were rung in rounds (descending scale), and one by one they dropped out until just the tenor, the heaviest bell, was tolling for those lost in the D-Day landings. This produces a mournful [...]
