Gloucestershire bell-ringer may make history with birthday peal

One of Gloucestershire’s oldest ever bell-ringers is hoping to make history.

Jack Long, from Lydney, is joining an attempt to ring a full peal at St Peter’s Church in Newnham-on-Severn to celebrate his 90th birthday on 16 November.

If successful, Mr Long, who learned to ring aged 10, will become the oldest ringer in the county to have completed a full peal.

A full peal is the maximum number of times you can ring the seven bells without once repeating the same sequence – meaning each bell is rung more than 5,000 times.

Newnham tower captain Chris North said: “We have one chance to get it right, there’s no stopping, pausing or fixing things and then starting again. It’s quite a mean feat.”

Mr Long’s ringing career started in 1945 at St Mary’s Church, Lydney, and he rang his first full peal aged 22.

He has also helped out regularly at St Peter’s Church over the decades and chose to ring his 90th birthday peal there as the bells were restored and re-hung in 2019.

“Newnham bells used to be hard work but now they are a dream – the bell hangers did a good job,” he said.

“We have a fantastic team of steeple keepers, who focus all the time on the minutest details, making sure the bells ring right,” said Mr North.

“You need to make sure you’ve got bell ringers’ hands – which tend to be reasonably calloused.

“But as long as your technique is right, it’s more about the mental stamina and the concentration that’s needed and your knowledge of the method.

“Jack Long is admired across the whole of Gloucestershire and, if successful, it will be a privilege to erect a new peal board in our ringing room to record such a significant occasion,” he added.

The peal is starting at 10:00 GMT and visitors are invited to join the final half-hour from 12:30 GMT.