A revolt among the bellringers of Dorset is threatened because it is proposed to install gramophones and amplifiers in belfries to produce ‘canned’ bell music. The first church to make the innovation, which is stated to be only temporary pending the decision of the Church Council, is St. John’s, Weymouth.

The vicar, the Rev. F. E. Coryton, said yesterday: “Most of the parishioners appear to like it, but I am prepared for opposition. There are some people who were against the motor-car, the aeroplane, and even the radio, but it is our duty to move with the times.”

There are many church belfries in the diocese of Salisbury silent because the bells are out of order and there is no money available to have them recast or retuned.

The Dorset branch of the Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers is sending a protest to the Bishop, Mr. C. H. Jennings, the guild secretary, declared yesterday: “The provision of gramophones in churches is a deplorable means of escaping a liability which properly belongs to a church and a trust which has come down to us through generations. We are calling a meeting on the 22nd to register our protest.”

Electric organs are being introduced in West of England churches, and one has recently been put in a Shaftesbury church.

A bell tuner at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry tests the pitch of a bell, 2009. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

The Rev. A. S. Bryant, rector of Upwey, near Weymouth, himself a bellringer, stated: “This synthetic church music is an American importation, and canvassers are going round buttonholing the clergy, who are also being asked to put in synthetic organs.

Our belfries are among the glories of old England. I cannot imagine that the Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers will welcome this canned church bell music. Personally I had no difficulty in raising money to put our bells in order, and at my old parish in Westbury I once raised £2,000 for a new peal of bells.”

A Weymouth church officer expressed the view that “wedding parties seemed to like this kind of music.”

The Guardian view: The Bellringers’ Protest



