There was a very interesting article in the Telegraph’s “Ask a Lawyer” feature recently (31st July) which was a lawyer’s response to a letter which began…
My wife and I and our toddler recently moved from London to a lovely village in Suffolk. It’s great, apart from the fact that we live next to the parish church and the bell ringing is loud and frequent.
Are there any laws about how often the bells can be rung and how late it can go on for? Bell ringing practice seems to be on a Tuesday night. We put our two-year-old to bed at 7pm, but the bells crank up at 7.30pm and carry on until 9pm.
Now the summer wedding season is underway we also get long bell ringing sessions at the weekend as well. It really is driving us to distraction.
– Jasper
Having had an irate newly-arrived villager storm into our own church and aggressively berate our enrobed vicar on the chancel step about the bells as he was about to start wedding proceedings, we know how important it is to know our legal position.
The article is highly informative and well-balanced and should give confidence to any ringers who have to contend with their own recently arrived “Jasper from London”.
If you subscribe to the paper you can read the article online here where you can often get a free trial (look for the green button in the header). Alternatively the image below should be readable.
Andy Waring
