[Bell Historians] Chiming

[John Camp]

At 09:58 on 20 July 2008, Chris Pickford wrote:
> I've never taken much of an interest in ringing traditions, but from my 
> limited understanding I have a feeling we're missing the point here

> Surely, the tellers were rung immediately after a death - not prior to the
> funeral. The tellers were a public announcement of a death - not immediate
> notice of a funeral

> That means that there was or is a need to distinguish between the genders,
> and let people know whether it's old Fred or old Mavis who has died.

Yes, Chris.  That was the tradition, but George says he does it while
awaiting the hearse.

It is, anyway, a bit improbable that the village had only one person of
each sex who might die at any given time.

I am teasing George a little (hope he doesn't mind) and, indeed, I used
to adopt a very similar practice myself years ago at Amersham, on the
rare occasions when a bell was tolled for a funeral.  But it's a
tradition which has no current usefulness (not that usefulness is what
matters) and it is a discriminatory one, which, if applied to the
living, would be illegal.  Suppose, for example, there was a tradition
of ringing a bell for baptisms three strokes at a time for a boy and two
for a girl.  It wouldn't be long before the Commission for Equality and
Human Rights became interested.

John Camp