The Richard Hind School Choral Club on their way to Stockton Parish Church in 1953 where the Great
Tenor Bell was dedicated to them
"What do you call these things?" the
tenor bell ringer asked as he picked up the largest bell.
Hundreds gathered each time to mark the passing of a dead soldier from Iraq and Afghanistan, the
tenor bell at St Bartholomew's signalling the approach of another coffin.
The group of nine ringers included father-and-daughter combination Len and Rachel Mitchell, who together rang the
tenor bell - which, at just over four tonnes, was the heaviest.
To show remorse for his crime he gave the
tenor bell, known as Black Tom, to the church.
Bell-ringers at the cathedral were involved in a last minute dash to find a replacement 5 ft clapper which fell off the 2.25 ton Great
Tenor bell - an important part of the traditional New Year countdown.
Left, Leslie Taylor, Ringing Master of Dublin's Christchurch Cathedral, in the bell tower beside the great
tenor bell (to his immediate left) which needed a last-minute replacement for a broken clapper which allowed bell-ringers to herald the New Year
Since August, the
tenor bell has chimed on the hour, every hour, day and night.
Baffled visitors to the church watched as the bellringers "played" the piece under the belltower after first being summoned by the lone tolling of a
tenor bell. Then the ringers appear-ed to do little more than the rhythmic folding of ropes.