Caterham Valley bell ringers

23/08/2026

Caterham and Coulsdon Bands
BBQ
23 August 2026

The BBQ was hijacked by Morgan who at 3 was interested in:

1. toys, and the plentiful supply of them
2. adults to keep her amused, and the plentiful supply of them

😉

Those at least 12 and over were interested in:

1. food, and the plentiful supply of it
2. bells (handbells), and the plentiful supply of ringing with them

😀

Members of the bands of St John's Caterham, St Mary's Caterham and Old Coulsdon gathered to bring food, cook food and eat food. In this they were very successful.

Milica supplied the traditional handbells, and beautiful music was the result.

Tall tales were told, anecdotes recited and a great deal of laughter was heard. I learnt enough about changing the barrels of Yale locks to realise that locksmiths are very valuable people.

As ever, Ann and Simon were model hosts and we were all suitably grateful and well fed.

Many thanks to all who organised, brought food, cooked, entertained and came along.

Autumn is drawing in, and All Souls and Remembrance ringing are just around the corner.

17/08/2026

Quarter Peal Plain Bob Triples at St John's Caterham on 9 August 2026

1 Janine H
2 Susan G
3 Finley H
4 Sam M
5 Simon B
6 Milica R (C)
7 Noel G
8 Alan C

1st on 8 and first blows in plain bob triples: 1

For the 150th Anniversary of the formation of the Mothers' Union, rung on Mary Sumner Day.

Bellboard:
https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1996406

For the hardcore:
https://youtu.be/JZKDof_3D28

17/08/2026

Always very welcome at St John's as you know!

And so it begins! The much awaited repairs to the steeple started this morning and are expected to last about 6 weeks. We were grateful that they were delayed for a week so we could ring for Irene’s Memorial service.

26/07/2026

Superheroes in the Bell Ringing Universe

When you're in desperate need of help because you're short of ringers for Sunday Service, who you gonna call?

Bell ringing superheroes can be found just around the corner (or up the hill). St Mary's, Caterham appeared in the nick of time to help the St John's trio.

So many thanks to L, J, F and A who provided the extra ringing power today!

PS In the attached images, to preserve the secret identities of the St Mary's ringers clever disguises have been used 😉

13/07/2026

6 Bell Call Changes Competition
Beddington
11 July 2026

Edited for clarity, Caterham St John came second in the competition.

Now the more whimsical version.

Ken was charged with getting us last place in the order of the ringing draw, but somehow we ended up first 🙂

The big plus there was setting the pace in the ringing competition for others to follow, Kingston rose to the challenge and put us in 2nd place by the end of the competition.

Enjoyable as ever, Beddington were excellent hosts and the ringing room was possibly one of the coolest places in South London.

04/07/2026

Quarter Peal 1260 Doubles (2m,1p) at St John's Caterham on 21 June 2026

Bellboard:

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1983257

For the hardcore:

https://youtu.be/-KsFyNg_tSo

28/06/2026

On Monday evening 29th June, starting at 18:30 we will be ringing to celebrate the 300th anniversary of a very special occasion. The St John’s bells were originally installed at St Mary the Virgin in the grounds of Lambeth Palace, a church that can date its origins back to 1062. In the 1970’s St Mary’s was deconsecrated and the bells came to St John’s in Caterham Valley in 1976. In 1723 the bells of St Mary’s were recast and 3 years later on 27th June 1726 a peal of 6832 changes of Plain Bob Major was rung at St Mary’s Lambeth and at that time, this was the longest length peal ever rung and would have taken over 4 hours to complete. This was the first peal on the bells and only the 7th peal rung by the Ancient Society of College Youths. The no. 3 bell is the last remaining of the 1723 bells to have rung this long length, the others being recast over the years. Due to the heat, we will not be repeating the feat but instead we will be ringing 1832 changes of Plain Bob Major to celebrate which will take over an hour. So do enjoy the ringing. Come along and sit outside the church and listen for a while.
The images are taken from the Ancient Society of College Youths Peal books.

23/06/2026

Quarter Peal - St John's Caterham Valley - 16 June 2026

1260 Doubles (2m,1p) ,Stedman 60, Grandsire Doubles 720, Plain Bob Doubles 480

https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1982048

For the hardcore:

https://youtu.be/oOd_tiO7Jjo

19/05/2026

Learn to ring church bells!

If you want to learn how to bell ring, come along to St John's Church Caterham on a Monday at 7pm (sorry, not bank holidays) or scan the QR code to send an email.

Why not climb the spiral stairs and join the band? 😃

🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔

St Johns Church
Clareville Rd
Caterham
CR3 6LA

18/05/2026

'Why do we ring bells?'
Bell Sunday Talk
St John's Caterham
17 May 2026

Noel and Richard explain the why's of bell ringing, why St John's Church rings bells and why individuals ring bells.