Christmas bells could stop ringing due to shortage of ringers

Matthew Turner, 47, who rings in Cardiff, learnt to teach ringing because he was just “super keen” to get people engaged with it.

He said most of his ringers have come through the church but initiatives such as Ring for the King, external help bring in more people.

“These initiatives grab people’s attention and gets them to join,” he said.

“We had more than a dozen join our branch for the initiative.”

Mr Turner added that ringing is a social activity and that he met a huge number of friends from it.

“The ringing community across the UK and across the world really is really quite close,” he said.

“You’ve got that kind of instant welcome wherever you go.

“You can kind of walk through doors, and say ‘hey, I can ring’ and generally people will welcome you with open arms.”

He also added that ringing on Christmas day felt quite special, saying: “People like to hear bells on Christmas morning. It’s that sense of tradition.”