WELCOME
The Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers was formed in 1962 to promote the art of change ringing in our two countries. There are currently around 350 members who ring at more than 70 bell towers throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Non-ringers might like this introduction to bellringing.
Ringers and potential ringers can contact our association's office bearers or local towers and ringers.
NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Updated: 18 April, 2024
12-bell weekend scholarships
Congratulations to Inga Griffiths-Hunt of Melbourne (left) and to Patrick Meyer of Adelaide(right). They have been awarded the 2024 12-Bell Scholarships
($500 each) to attend the 12-Bell Weekend in Sydney in October.
More information about these weekends is available here.
Training Quarter Peals on Easter Monday
The webmasters asked James Perrins for the story behind the footnotes on the following performances reported on BellBoard for Easter Monday - 1/3, 2/3 and 3/3. He writes:
After unsuccessfully gathering a peal band at St Mary's Sydney on Easter Monday I thought I could still utilise the time slot. There are quite a few ringers in Sydney who are relatively accomplished but could benefit with a quarter-peal or two to really consolidate what they already know. With this in mind, I asked the ringers who had agreed to the peal if they were still happy to ring, most of whom were, and then targeted a few doubles and triples ringers to make up the bands. It was pretty easy to organise and ultimately three QP ideas formed, targeting four ringers. All three were successful and everyone got a lot out of it, especially in terms of confidence. I hope to organise more QP days in the future for the development of other ringers.
Recent Peals
The whole thing was risky!
Peter Harrison wrote: "I don't mind admitting I was anxious about the peal. I was nervous in the lead up. I just had to make sure I concentrated throughout the whole thing."
Go here to read about the background, the choice of composition, the learning and eventual calling for the first Bobs-only peal of Stedman Triples to be rung in Australia in 29 years.
First open peal at St Patrick's Melbourne
Ringers representing Catholic cathedrals of Adelaide, Sydney, Parramatta and Melbourne, together with organiser Christopher O'Mahony, came together on Easter Sunday to ring a peal on the historic bells of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne.
This was the first peal of major on the bells, and the first peal to be rung open rather than muffled. It was rung to mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the archdiocese of Melbourne.
The seven visitors to Melbourne rang a second peal in Geelong on Easter Monday.
12-bell Weekend - Hobart March 2024
The four NZ attendees, Frank Sluter, Mary Sluter, Chris Jarman, Derek Williams
Four NZ ringers and 4 UK visitors joined 8 ringers from mainland Australia and the local Hobart ringers for a great weekend.
Using the two accidentals and the simulator to convert the 10 bell tower to a 12 bell practice tower worked amazingly well, though we enjoyed the full sound of the open 10 on Sunday morning.
At the Saturday dinner we thanked Phil Goodyer and Doug Nichols for organizing this ANZAB event and raised a toast to Jenny Murphy. Jenny donated a couple of new bells for St David's Hobart when they were augmented to a 10, and her bequest to ANZAB helps support the 12-bell weekends.
See QPs from the weekend here, and see Ringing Towers for more information.
Deryn Griffiths
6 April 2024
Register for ANZAB 2024
Registration for the ANZAB 2024 festival is now open and can be completed online here.
For more information, see the Festival webpage which will be updated as information becomes available.
Here is a link to the draft agenda for the 2024 AGM.
Download an invitation with a version of the program for notice boards here.
ANZAB CPR Training and First Aid Assistance
ANZAB offers funding to all towers for ringers to train in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and First Aid, to a maximum of two ANZAB members per tower. Each tower is also being offered a free poster providing details of CPR.
Read more about the Assistance scheme, and how to apply, by following this link.
anzab diary
Updated: 15 April, 2024
2024
18 April
Sydney. NSW-ACT Branch Practice.
Venue: St Mary's Cathedral
Contact:
19-21 April
Sydney. Advanced Ringing Weekend.
Register
Contact:
1-5 May
Wellington. Two Island Cluster.
Contact:
4 May
Sydney. ART Module 1.
Venue: Christ Church St Laurence
Register
Contact:
11 May
Claremont. WA Branch Practice & AGM.
Contact:
28 May
Sydney. NSW-ACT Branch Practice.
Venue: Christ Church St Laurence
Contact:
7-10 June
ANZAB 2024 Festival and AGM.
Adelaide.
More info
15 June
Lithgow. NSW-ACT Branch Practice.
Contact:
28-30 June
Melbourne. Intermediate Ringing Course.
More info
Contact:
things to ring for
2024
25 April - ANZAC Day
23 June - 100th anniversary of Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix (Goulburn)
This is a very selective list in an ANZAB context. See also the CCCBR's list for events and anniversaries, and ringing.org's peal and quarter peal lengths for appropriate compositions.
about an event or anniversary to list here.
news archive
latest first
2024
Training Quarter Peals - 16 April
Stedman Peal - The whole thing was risky! - 11 April
First open peal at St Patrick's Melbourne - 11 April
Macarthur Region Tour - 9 April
12-bell Weekend, Hobart - 6 April
Surprise Major Weekend in Adelaide - 29 March
Advanced Ringing Weekend in Victoria - 25 March
Ringing School (Intermediate) Bundaberg - 22 March
Ringing Towers
Latest issue:
vol.78, no.2, Autumn 2024
Download the electronic version
Download the print version
Deadline for next issue:
30 June 2024.
Early submissions appreciated,
and essential for longer articles.