St Chad’s Parish Church Poulton-le-Fylde Make a joyful noise to the Lord - become a bell-ringer!   If you love the sound of church bells, and have at least some sense of timing, why not consider becoming a bell-ringer?   Church bells are incredibly heavy – ranging from six hundredweight to more than 28 hundredweight per bell - but anyone is strong enough to ring them. Ringers range from schoolchildren to teenagers, from the middle-aged to retired people. It’s a wonderful pastime for breaking down the generation gap.   There are a lot of instructions to remember: “Don’t look up, look straight ahead”, “don’t anticipate the sally (reaching for the stripy part of the rope, the sally, too soon), “get closer to the rope”, “flick your wrists away”, “one foot a little ahead of the other”, “pull down slowly – no, too fast, too fast”, “use your elbows”. Etc, etc!   You don’t need strength. Once you’ve got the bell going, it is just a matter of keeping the rhythm of your pull steady on the rope. There is no strain on the back: you simply stand straight and relaxed. If you have the all-important sense of timing, the rest comes with practice.   Some people master the art in as little as four months; others take almost a year. But one day, when you least expect it, you’ll find you’ve ‘got it’ at last. A bit like learning to ride a bicycle!