Category: News

We can’t keep away from our bells or clappers! Adrian was in Dorset so decided to pop by Nicholsons to check on our clappers and head stock!

Report from Paul, 14 March 2026: “Martin from Nicholasons has been working solidly in the tower for the last nine days. He thought the bell chamber was in generally good condition and spent four days grinding old paint of the frame (see the wire brush!), cleaning all the dust from under the carpets and the carpets themselves. Martin has removed nine bags of rubbish, mostly dust, paint flakes, rust, bricks and bits of wood and old wiring and general detritus!   The bell chamber and ringing chamber are quite clean and I am impressed with the work done to date. The final article will look wonderful!

He has spent several days applying a zinc-based primer paint to the frame and headstocks. The wheels will get a coat of lignum-based preservative, apparently bat friendly. (I pointed out the only bat we’ve got is Bob). The final frame coat will be a lighter grey gloss paint. The new chiming hammers will get a coat of paint too. We need to have a competition to guess how many litres of paint they will finally use!   

The clappers, bearings, 11^th headstock, tenor stay and two slider bars are in Bridport for refurbishment/replacement/painting as required. 

Martin and Chris will be back w/c 23 March to do the final painting and reassembly and also fix the twiddle pin on the 9th. They expect to be there all that week with a couple of days contingency w/c 30 March, so we should be on for our spring clean on Saturday 4 April and first ring on Easter Sunday.  The bells are likely to be louder and possibly a little brighter until the clappers new strike points bed in.”

  

Week two: photos from Martin at Nicholsons – cleaning up completed and now preparation for painting of the frame begins.

Before pics …

After the cleaning … ready for the painting!

Progress report – week 1, from Tower Captain, Paul:

“Pip and I met the bellhangers Chris and Martin Tuesday evening (24/02/26) and got a grandstand tour of the 11th headstock and the clappers being lowered to the ground whilst the trapdoors were open.

The ringing room trap door was then replaced and we were allowed to go and look at the ringing chamber and go up to the bells, provided we stayed on the mezzanine. 

They have made astonishing progress in two days – most of the bells are jacked up on blocks, all the clappers are out, ropes and wheels off the bells. Work still to do this week: take the bearings off the headstocks and take all the equipment to Bridport.   

Things that have come up include – the tenor stay has a crack and will need replacing, one of the slider boards (where the slider runs when it engages with the stay) is badly worn and also needs replacing. The tenor clapper has sheared one or two bolts and these will all be replaced with larger gauge nuts and bolts. The frame is in reasonably good condition but will benefit enormously from a good clean down, application of undercoats and final coat of grey paint. Martin will be back next week to start the preparation for painting the frame.”

Photos from Pip:

Photos from Paul:

Maintenance work on Kingston bells

The renovation and maintenance work on Kingston’s bells will take place 23 February-27 March. The last major work was done in 1972 when the anti-clockwise ring of 10 bells were rehung and increased to the 12 glorious bells we have today. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was considerable rivalry between towers, and the fact that Kingston had a ring of 10 bells by the mid eighteenth century suggests that the town and parish church had considerable importance.

Kingston bells were all cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and range in age from 1826 to 1972, so this year we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of two of our oldest bells (bell 8 and 9 – my favourite bell).

We now need to carry out some essential maintenance work to ensure the bells and fittings are fit for the next 50 years. This will be carried out by Nicholson Engineering, our preferred bell maintenance company. The work being carried out includes:

• Replacement of ‘gudgeons’ (bearing supports) on the bell 11

• Replacement of ball bearings (which the bells swing on) on all 12 bells

• Refurbishment of all 12 clappers (these hang inside the bell and strike it)

• Repainting the bell frame and fittings. 

During the 5-6 weeks of silence, our ringers will be visiting other towers, including St Mary’s Hampton and All Hallows Twickenham.

The bellringers are grateful for all the help they have received in raising the funds for cost of the project. Join us for a special service of rededication on Sunday 19 April, 9:30am. The bellringers are baking for the occasion! 

Paul Flavell
Tower Captain

February-March

Sunday 1 February – peal attempt

Sunday 8 February – quarter peal attempt

Monday 23 February – Thursday 12 March– Bells restoration works. No ringing.

April

Sunday 19 April  – special rededication of the bells service, 9:30. The bellringers are baking for the occasion! 

June

Saturday 27 June – outing (day) to Southampton and local area.

July

Saturday 4 July  – Ordination Service at 11:00. Ringing at 10:15.

Ringing in December

Wednesday 3 December normal practice

Saturday 6 December visiting peal band in the morning

Sunday 7 December normal morning and evening ringing

Wednesday 10 December normal practice

Sunday 14 December normal morning ringing, quarter peal in the evening

Wednesday 17 December carols in church so no practice – curry night for the ringers.

Sunday 21 December normal morning and evening ringing

Wednesday 24 December no practice.  Ring for midnight mass 22:15 to 23:00

Thursday 25 December ring for morning service 8:30 to 9:30 am (followed by coffee & Christmas cake, mince pies etc somewhere – optional)

Sunday 28 December normal morning and evening ringing

Wednesday 31 December no practice.  Ring the New Year in.  Meet in church promptly at 23:30.  Ring at midnight for a short time with champagne. 

Then back to normal!

Rather fitting that to mark VE Day 2025, two of the nine Kingston ringers on 8 May 2025 were there for the original celebration!

Photojournalist Ollie Monk was on assignment for his press agency and took Maggie and Mike’s portrait alongside a few band shots to commemorate our 30 minute ring.

You can view the full gallery on Ollie’s website here.

by Paul Flavell

King Athelstan, the first King of England, was crowned King on 4 September 925 at Kingston upon Thames, perhaps due to its location on the border between Wessex and Mercia.  He was crowned by Athelm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who organised a new order of service in which the king wore a crown for the first time instead of a helmet. 

The good people of Kingston upon Thames decided to organise a series of events to celebrate this 1,100thanniversary, including a procession, Saxon encampment and tournament held on 26 July, unveiling of new tapestries on 4 September, a flotilla on 6 September and finishing with a carnival and Festival Choral Eucharist with the Bishop of Southwark on 7 September.

Some while ago, we were approached by Viv Endecott, a self-confessed King Athelstan fan, to see if she could bring a small group of ringers from Dorset to ring at Kingston on 26 July, during the Athelstan procession.  Their ringers came from Lytchett Matravers, Lytchett Minster, Winterborne Kingston (Dorset!), Poole and Bournemouth.  We readily agreed to this request and ringers from Kingston with Dorset connections came to help.

The Dorset ringers were unused to ringing on 10 bells so we kept to call changes and rang whilst the procession crossed Kingston bridge.  They were delighted with their ring and after the ringing we were spoken to by a lady in the church who said the ringing could be heard by the bridge and really added to the occasion!

by Paul Flavell

Wells was the venue for the Kingston ringers’ weekend outing held in stiflingly hot conditions in July. We didn’t ring at the Cathedral but some wonderful bells made up for this, starting with Ditcheat and magnificent Shepton Mallet on Friday afternoon. Fraser managed to get a ring at the Friday practice at St Cuthbert’s Wells before joining the rest of us for dinner.

On the Saturday, we rang at Wookey, where ringers were banished to the naughty corner on the 5^th bell hidden by the clock case, Westbury sub Mendip and the challenging eight at Cheddar, where there was a lock in rather than a lock out, fortunately Charlotte had a mobile signal and we were able to get the local back to let her out! Ali and Willow were very relieved to see her!

We were joined by some old friends for the day – Philip Pratt and Anna Bayley, Chris Jenkins and locals Jack Pease (the Somerset one) and Paul Wotton and were very grateful for their help as some of the bells were quite heavy. We took the opportunity of giving Philip a rope to repair.

Driving up Cheddar Gorge was a challenge due to cyclists cycling up the Gorge at five miles per hour but whizzing back down the descent. It was worth the detour to get to the Somerset Wagon where we enjoyed a pleasant lunch.   

We were joined at Chilcompton by locals Adrian and David, and this meant we were able to ring a passable course of Stedman Cinques on this lovely ground floor 12 in beautiful surroundings. We can see why Chilcompton was chosen as the venue for the National 12 Bell Competition in 2024.  

At ground floor Binegar a little boy playing in his paddling pool heard the bells and demanded that his father take him to the church to watch us ring!  He was very excited – a future recruit there I’m sure.  We finished on the heavy and extremely loud six at Croscombe and earned a very enjoyable drink at the Full Moon pub and a good curry in Wells in the evening.

Sunday morning we had arranged to join the locals on the ground floor 12 at Midsomer Norton and between us did some quite acceptable ringing.  The church goers were most interested and wondered who the visitors were.   We also rang for a service on the gallery ring at Radstock and were given a round of applause by the congregation which was a very good end to our tour!

Next year’s outing will be a more local affair – any ideas or suggestions welcome but I’m thinking of Romsey Abbey and the towers in Southampton might be a good idea.