Whetstone Bellringers

24/06/2026

Due to the extreme heat tonight, we will be meeting instead in the pub garden with our notebooks and pens for some theory/ method studying.

Stay safe and hydrated all!

20/06/2026

Action shots of the new stays going in..
J holding it in place and D tightening the coach bolts.

A quick test ring afterwards and all was well

Thank you gents!

20/06/2026

It seems Whetstone weren't the only ones with stay issues this month. Our friends at Cosby Bellringers had a 'spongy' stay on Bell 5 too which turned out to be the beginning of a crack.

Fortunately we have our awesome duo of ringing team members, J (Cosby) and D (Whetstone), who are both fix-it fellows with tools and carpentry skills, and a stash of Ash wood!

Featured here with two new stays for the two towers. (For those in the know the Hastings is for Cosby). Ringing brought these two together as new firm friends in recent years, often spotted in the pub after practice, so an excuse to get together in one of their garages for an afternoon was much fun!

After some research in the maintenance archive we found a note of when Whetstone last changed the stay on Bell 2.. guesses in the comments for what year you think it was?

It prompted them to mark the new stays' years for future fixers.

16/06/2026

No ringing Wednesday 17th June

Ringers will be having their AGM in the church at the same time instead. Regular attendees know but impromptu visitors hoping to ring may be best coming the following week instead!

📝🤝📝

14/06/2026

While our home ringing team enjoyed a relaxed start to the day with no service at Whetstone to ring for, many of our younger team members will by meeting up with the Leicestershire youth ringing team "Foundry Foxes" this afternoon for their final group practice before they ring in the "Ringing World National Youth Contest" at the beginning of July. Some have done this in previous years but for others it is their first time in a ringing competition of any sort. We wish them all good luck!

If any local young ringers (up to 19yo) would like to join Foundry Foxes contacts are on the guild website [ https://leicesterdg.org.uk/training/foundry-foxes/ ], or if you message directly we can put you in touch.

The RWNYC [ https://rwnyc.ringingworld.co.uk/ ] is fantastic to showcase and encourage the next generation of ringers!
"What makes the RWNYC special is that it is much more than a competition. It is a day of discovery, teamwork and belonging."

National bellringing contest

03/06/2026

The sharper listeners amongst our community may have noticed we finished early both last week and this week.. for very different reasons!

Last well it was so hot we stopped early and visited The Bulls Head pub across the road for a cold lemonade in the garden.

This week we had a slightly more dramatic mechanical issue when someone bumped and broke the stay on Bell 2. Picture of broken part recovered, and a diagram (courtesy of Association of Ringing Teachers).

Back 6 bells only for a week-ish while we get the right people, tools, and bits of wood lined up to fix it.

The ringer in question has a sore finger which we hope feels better soon.

21/04/2026

**Change of plan. Last minute cancellation, no QP this Saturday after all. **

~On the morning of Saturday 25th April we are due to have a quarter peal at Whetstone, a 45 minute challenge, during the summer months we stick to the shorter ringing and avoid the 3hr peals.~

~Good luck to T and friends.~

09/04/2026

What a lovely busy practice again last night, bonus visiting ringers from the wider Leicester area, occasional visitors who made it this week, as well as a good turnout of regulars. 3 of the older teen/young adult age group even decided to run to us from Narborough!! 19 in total!

All the extra help meant we could put a strong band around those getting to grips with plain hunt in new positions and inside to plain bob doubles. We were also able to ring Cambridge minor for one of the more progressed young ringers, and a couple of courses of Stedman Doubles for adult novices. Not forgetting of course the call changes for 1 youngster and some rounds for the youngest and newest ringer present who I think is in year 4

We then finished with a lovely plain course of Bob Major which was a nice treat we don't get very often.

Many thanks to all the supporters!

05/04/2026

Happy Easter all.

Was a busy morning for local ringers. With Narborough 6️⃣🔔 having their service earlier than normal at the same time as Whetstone 8️⃣🔔 half of the Whetstone regulars who usually do both couldn't be in 2 places at once, so half of the Cosby 6️⃣🔔 crew came to help at Whetstone, then went to ring for their service too, while 3 of the Whetstone regulars went to help Willoughby Waterleys 5️⃣🔔 who were ringing at the same time as Cosby. The other WW ringers had already rung at Countesthorpe 8️⃣🔔 first!

The message threads to sort coverage over the last week were fun! 📋📨💬🗨

While ringing locally is a thriving and growing activity, we clearly could always use more hands (literally!). So if anyone local is interested in learning please do get in touch.

We do all support each other so if you'd like to learn to for your local village tower rather than Whetstone we can ether train you for them or pass you on to the local contact depending if the tower in question is a teaching tower. Some towers are easier to teach in than others and we at Whetstone are blessed with lovely bells and a nice teaching space which has helped support new ringers over the last few years who now ring at both Cosby and Narborough, with support from the Narborough and Cosby tower captain/teachers at our venue during their journeys.