A message for change ringers everywhere

This Sunday – Remembrance Sunday – we are called to “look to” and take part in a most momentous commemoration.  Being so intimately linked in to our local communities, it is no surprise that bellringers everywhere have stepped forward to participate, collectively and individually, in this solemn centenary.

And it is entirely right and fitting that bells give voice to the deep and lasting emotions felt so widely at this time.  So many today owe so much to our forbears for the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy one hundred years on.  As bellringers, we are the “external choir” that calls out across time and space, giving tribute on this day for those who have gone before.  This is what we do, this is our calling, this is our service.

This Sunday will be a day of reflection, a day of commemoration, a day of participation.  Thank you for your participation in this historic event. Bellringers everywhere will be able to say – “I was there – I remembered”.

• Christopher O’Mahony

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I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

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Lyrics:  Sir Cecil Spring  Rice

Music: Sir Gustav Holst