Deputy Vice Chancellor set to embark on charity cycle ride

Professor Slade is part of a team of eight bell ringers from St Mary’s Church in Richmond, North Yorkshire, who will take part in the seven day bike ride from Richmond, Surrey, to Richmond, North Yorkshire.

The bell-ringers of St Mary’s launched a fundraising appeal in May 2015 in order to refurbish the ancient bell tower and replace some of the bells and are now just £20,000 short of the total needed.

The intrepid cyclists will be ringing the bells at around 20 churches and cathedrals along their 350 mile journey from Surrey, through London, Cambridge, Lincoln, up the East of England over the Humber Bridge to York and onto Richmond, North Yorkshire. The fundraisers will ring the bells at Waltham Abbey and Lincoln Cathedral, as well as lots of small village churches; and will be ringing hand bells as well as tower bells.

Six individual cyclists: Yvonne Armitage, Andrew Slade, John Welch, Peter Trewby and James & Barbara Gravenor will be joined by Glenys Rogers and Glenys Jones, who will complete the journey on a tandem. Donations can be given via Just Giving at www.justgiving.com/richmond-hudswellpcc.

As Professor Andrew Slade explained: “I first became interested in bell ringing when I was a choirboy in Hertfordshire. I have been ringing since I was 14 and rang my first ‘peal’ (this lasts approximately three hours) on Saturday 30 January 1965 at the funeral of Winston Churchill. I joined the Ancient Society of College Youths, a prominent London-based Society who ring at St Paul’s Cathedral and the other City churches in London, when I was 15 and have been ringing ever since.

“The combination of physical skill allied to mental challenge is what appeals to me: one thing every ringer needs is rhythm. Without an innate sense of when to ring the bell, given the several seconds delay between pulling the rope and the bell actually striking, it would be very difficult to ring well.

“It is a very good way to meet new friends and take part in a quintessentially English hobby. Bell ringing, as practiced by English bell ringers, happens only in the UK and Ireland and some of the old colonial countries of England, such as the US and Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

“I’m very much looking forward to the ride from Richmond in Surrey back to St Mary’s in Richmond, although I’m approaching the journey with some trepidation as well!  The opportunity to raise money for our bell tower however will spur me on, as will the chance to ring at many of the iconic places of worship in England along the way.”

Glenys Rogers added: “We chose to ride a tandem, despite not having ridden one before, as a play on doubles, which is a very important part of bell ringing. To ring doubles is to ring five bells, which gives a certain sound. As we have two Glenyses we thought we would ride a ‘double’ bike from one Richmond to another.”

The soundscape of the St Mary’s church bells has been an essential part of Richmond community life for three centuries. St Mary's parish documents record peals rung to celebrate the coronations, deaths and anniversaries of five monarchs, the safe return of regiments, the end of the Boer War and two World Wars, and the passing of millennia. The bell ringers have rung to celebrate music festivals, the Olympics, the Tour de France, royal, civic, guild and military occasions, weddings, funerals and church services.

For more information visit www.richmondbells.com and to donate visit www.justgiving.com/richmond-hudswellpcc