Church Tower
The church tower has 120 steps. As you climb the spiral staircase you first of all pass the ringing room, the clock room and then the bells in their frame, before arriving at the top of the tower. From here there is an excellent view of parts of the village and surrounding countryside.
St. Thomas’ has a proud and long tradition in its history of bell ringing evidenced by the twelve
plaques decorating the bell-ringers room, which commemorate some of the peals rung from 1904 to 2008.
Photographs of all these plaques are featured on the Plaques page.
These show the names of the ringers and in addition those of the vicar and wardens at that time.
The ringing room also has an excellent photograph (see right) of the ringers of the Coronation Day
Peal which was rung in 1953. Derrick McGarry who took the picture, is the nephew of Ivan Kay, the church’s
longest serving tower captain. The plaque dated 1968 commemorates Ivan Kay's 50 years ringing service at
the church.
The bells are rung each Sunday for services and also for weddings when requested. Members of the Lancashire Association of Change Ringers (LACR) also use them during the year for peals and meetings. The LACR was established in 1876 and spans the area covered by the old area of Lancashire, ranging from South Cumbria to parts of present day Yorkshire. St Thomas’ is part of the Rochdale branch of the LACR.
Change ringing, is when the bells are rung in different set sequences. In its more complex forms are peals, which are rung in sessions lasting up to and over 3 hours. One of the plaques commemorates the Jubilee Anniversary of the church in 1922, when the bells were rung continually for over 6 hours! There have been 230 peals at St Thomas’ since the first peal in 1873.
Peter Randall, the present Tower Captain, started ringing in 1962 in Warwick and has taken part in
bell ringing sessions throughout the United Kingdom and also around the world, travelling to Australia
and America, in addition to playing a role in the LACR.
Anyone wishing to try bell ringing at the church, should contact Peter on 0161 620 5421. There are no special skills required and new learners are always welcome. A beginners’ class is held every Monday evening from 19:30 to 20:00 – there is no charge for the lessons. The regular ringers then go on with their practice sessions until 21.00. The picture on the left shows our bellringers, including the beginners at one of their sessions during one of their sessions in 2008.
Those wishing to find out more about bell ringing should find most of their questions answered on either the LACR web site or Central Council of Bell Ringers site. The latter also has a link a page on the Washington Ringing Society site which shows an excellent animation of the mechanics of how the bell is rung.
