Due to popular demand, Strictly Come Striking is back for another season! 30th May, 2.30-4.30pm at Horsington.
Striking competitions can be a bit… So let’s scrub that. What we want is fun, ringing, and cake. Mostly the cake. The competition element is secondary. We have it only to help focus our listening to help improve our striking.
Ringing is a real skill but listening is a skill that’s just as important. Being able to hear your bell helps you place your bell. Well struck bells, fab-u-LOUS. Clashing bells, di-SAH-ster darling😊
We’ve ditched the professional judging panel. There’s no strikeometer. Instead, we all listen and score. It forces us to listen out for what works and what doesn’t, helping us improve our own ringing.
So, come as band – 6 bells. Prepare and practice striking together if you like. Or, come on your own or with a friend – we’ll mix and match people together to create bands on the day.
Most of all, it’s about fun, listening, and learning together. There’s no Glitter Bell trophy to take home 😊
Keeeeeep striking!
🎉 We did it! Not only did we ring all 44 full-circle towers but we also rang four chiming towers too – beating our target. Over 245 bells rang out across Cary Branch. Over 100 ringers raced across the branch showing that ringing is alive and well in Cary Branch!
It was a fantastic day to celebrate our bells, ringers, and all that’s good in our communities. 🥳
We were covered on the BBC Somerset website, our ringing appeared on that night’s BBC Points West evening news bulletin, and we were part of the BBC’s “The One Show” which hit prime time viewing on the preceding Friday night.
We had chimers aged <10, ringers in teens, twenties, and all the way through to 80+ . It's a rare activity that can bring so many people together. Indeed, we had ringers that took part from across the "border" in Mere, from Bristol, and all the way from Inverness!
Rev'd Guy Scott, the Master of the Association was also able to join us ringing at Ansford (on the oldest bell in the branch, c1350) and Castle Cary. He was able to present to Jenny Alderson of Castle Cary a framed certificate commemorating her 50 years of Association membership.
We were also able to wrap up the day with a successful quarter peal at South Cadbury to celebrate the event.
A big shout out to all the clergy, wardens, key keepers, and congregations who supported us on our way round – providing access, moral support, applause, cake, tea, and even prosecco (thank you All Saints, Castle Cary 😄).
Finally, a huge thank you to all the ringers, bands, and leads who made it possible to sound out our incredible bells across our branch and communities 👏👏👏
It was a ding dong of a day 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔😄
🚨 Read all about it! Cary Branch Practices for 2026. Here is an updated listing for all the branch practices for the rest of the year. Some of the towers for later in the year are still to be confirmed (marked with an asterisk). It is in a black & white, A4, printer-friendly format – so, if a hardcopy helps you, do print out, stick up on a wall, hang it in your ringing room! Else, feel free to distribute the soft copy to ringers you know who may not be on Facebook, WhatsApp, or who might not even access this website.
🙋♀️ The practices are for everyone – both new and experienced ringers. There will be rounds, call changes, and methods.
🐣 For new ringers, it is a great way to fit in more practice, get tips, and get to know the broader ringing community.
🥷 For experienced ringers, we know many of you are in towers in which there aren’t enough experienced ringers to practice more advanced methods – so the practices are a great opportunity to bring the ringing ninjas (ringjas?!) together for something special.
🙏 Big thanks to Emma, Branch Secretary, for coordinating all of this, it is no small task. Also, many thanks to the towers that have agreed to host a session.
Looking forward to seeing you at a practice soon!
Read all about it! Summer is very nearly on its way and what better way to ease you into the mood than a read of the Cary Branch Newsletter – Summer 2026 edition.
As ever, if you have news or pictures you would like to share about your tower, a workshop, or a ringing story then please send them in to: carybranch.news@bath-wells.org
The next deadline is 5th July 2026.
Many thanks to our Branch Secretary, Emma, for being the newshound, editor, and publisher!
Last Saturday, 11 ringers from across the branch got together in Pitcombe to take the Association of Ringing Teachers (ART) course on teaching bell handling.
Well done to everyone who took part – and special thanks to Emma for organising this alongside Claire from ART (https://bellringing.org/).
We’re looking forward to training up the new recruits to ringing!
St. Peter’s at West Lydford needs to raise £12,000 for essential maintenance work to keep the bells ringing.
Already, 5 of our 44 towers are now unringable and we’d love for St. Peter’s to keep ringing for the community as it has done since Elizabethan times.
You can donate by following this link: Help raise £12,000 for St. Peter’s, West Lydford (via JustGiving)
Thank you for any support you can provide!
