Statement of Need This paper is a request to leave up the bells in the Cathedral tower (except those used for the clock bells: 7, 8, 9 and 12). Background: The Cathedral’s bells are the fifth heaviest ringing peal in the world by total weight. The largest bell weighs 48 hundredweight and is the seventh heaviest ringing bell. There are only 25 ringing bells over 40 hundredweight in the world. To perform in the traditional style of English of changeringing, the bells have to be in the up position. This means the bells turn a full 360 degree rotation, clockwise and anti clockwise, for our art to be performed. Most towers with lighter rings of bells leave their bells in the down position. It is easy to ring up light bells as the process is not time consuming or physically demanding. Of the twenty towers with a tenor over 40 hundredweight, 15 leave up their bells. The remaining five ring down their bells because their clocks use all the bells, or a carillon is used to sound the bells for midweek services (for example, Exeter Cathedral). Ringing up the bells so they are ready for changeringing, and then ringing them down, takes up much the available time for ringing for services and other events. This is especially difficult when ringing for special midweek events when the bellringers take time out from work. Ringing the bells up and down takes at last 15 minutes at Worcester Cathedral, assuming there are enough physically strong bellringers available. Many of our bellringers are young, and not yet physically strong enough to ring up the bells quickly and safely. What happens now: Eleven of the fifteen ringing bells are left up between Sunday morning (10:30) and Monday night (21:15). During December the bells are left up when we ring for several carol services. Occasionally the bells are left up when we ring on Saturdays or other midweek occasions. For safety, the ropes are hoisted up into the carillon room and so out of arm’s reach in the ringing room. Security: Leaving up the bells is dangerous and strictly observed security precautions are needed. Only authorised and experienced people should enter the belfry whether the bells are up or down. No-one should enter the belfry if the bells are up, unless they are with an experienced bellringer. Notices should be clearly displayed. The bellropes should be out of reach in the ringing room. All doors in the tower which give acces to the belfry, intermediate chambers and the ringing room should be locked. Access to keys is restricted. The tower key to the ringing room, carillon and belfry door, is currently kept on top of a cupboard in the Teaching Centre. This is poor security. Please may we have a safe box with a number pad in the Teaching Centre to keep this key secure? Where else does this happen? These are some examples of cathedrals and churches which leave up their bells . Some leave up all their bells, some just ring down their clock bells as we are requesting. This is a short list based on principal cathedrals and churches. Liverpool Cathedral (tenor 82 cwt) Leeds Minster (tenor 42 cwt) St Paul’s Cathedral, London (tenor 62 cwt) Edinburgh Cathedral (tenor 40 cwt) York Minster (tenor 59 cwt) Liverpool, St Nicholas Pier Head (tenor 42 cwt) Wells Cathedral (tenor 57 cwt) Norwich St Peter Mancroft (tenor 38 cwt) Southwark Cathedral (tenor 48 cwt) Adelaide Cathedral (tenor 40 cwt) Sherborne Abbey (tenor 46 cwt) Worcester All Saints (tenor 20 cwt) Dublin, St Patrick’s Cathedral (tenor 45 cwt) Birmingham St Martin (tenor 39 cwt) Dublin, Christchurch Cathedral (tenor 45 cwt) Birmingham Cathedral (tenor 30 cwt) Oxford Cathedral (tenor 30 cwt) Bury St Edmunds Cathedral (tenor 30 cwt) Cambridge, Great St Mary (tenor 24 cwt) St Buryan (tenor 37 cwt) Leighton Buzzard (tenor 35 cwt) Truro Cathedral (tenor 34 cwt) Ipswich, St Mary le Tower (tenor 34 cwt) Hereford Cathedral (tenor 33 cwt) Illustration: Bell in the ‘down’ position. Bell in the ‘up’ position. Insurance Implications of Leaving Bells "Up" Published by EIG. These Guidance Notes were compiled in 1994 by the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group (EIG) following negotiations with a sub- group of the Central Council Administrative Committee, comprising Messrs A. W. R. Wilby (Chairman), R. J. Cooles, A. J. Frost and I. H. Oram, and Mrs K. Flavell. The Notes are intended to provide guidance to bellringers and to field staff of EIG in negotiating safe practices where local circumstances require bells to be left in the "up" position during the working week. The notes indicate a general safe case which should be interpreted to meet each unique local situation. Introduction The EIG assessed the risk as follows: "Ringers do not have absolute control of the access to bell towers. Control rests in part with the Incumbents and Church Wardens, but others have the right of access at all times. They include Officers of the Insurers, Architects, Fire Officers, etc. It is not therefore possible for ringers to claim that no-one can go up the tower without their permission. In consequence, bells left in the "up" position represent a danger to any unknowledgeable person legitimately entering the tower and not under the supervision of the ringers. "A number of accidents or near misses happen each year. The consequences of such an accident can be catastrophic, resulting in death or very serious injury. The incidence of such events, whilst infrequent, is such as not to be rare. "With the increasing tendency of people to go to litigation and the implications of the Health and Safety at Work Act, EIG do not consider the risk to be one which they wish to take commercially. Without such cover the Church Officers are therefore exposed to this liability which they would be irresponsible to take." 1. General Bells must be left in the "down" position when not in use during the working week between 7 a.m. Monday and 6 p.m. Friday with Public Holidays excepted. Outside this period, if bells are left in the "up" position then the rope must be hoisted towards the ceiling on a "spider" and locked in position. Notices warning that the bells are "up" and that the bells should not be touched shall be displayed in the Ringing Room. The access door to the Bell Chamber must be kept locked, a danger notice exhibited and a single key kept in the control of the Ringing Master or deputy. If access is required to the Bell Chamber during the weekend while the bells are "up", then this must be under the control of the Ringing Master or deputy. 2. Visiting RingersThe resident Ringing Master, or other person responsible for tower safety, must take reasonable steps to ensure that they are satisfied with the competence of visiting ringers and warn them of the circumstances attached to the tower. 3. Special Conditions concerning Heavy Rings of Bells Rings of bells where the tenor weighs 20 cwt or more may additionally be left in the "up" position during the working week, provided that the following conditions are met: the bell-frame must be secured against any person being able to come into contact with the bells without the authority of the Ringing Master. This may be done by caging the bell-frame, fencing any walkway or securing any door adjacent to the bell-frame with materials sufficiently robust to prevent access, and a single controlled door in the cage or screen shall be provided with a single key which shall remain in the control of the Ringing Master or deputy whilst the bells are "up". Where no walking route to another part of the building passes through the Bellchamber, then the access door to the Bellchamber may be considered the controlled door. 4. Turning the Clappers of Bells Up "Wrong" Where it is necessary to turn the clapper of a bell to the "right" side then the following must be observed: the procedure for turning the clapper must be specified in detail and approved by the insurer. A copy shall be displayed prominently in the Ringing Room, and only the Ringing Master or other trained deputy shall be allowed to carry out the procedure. 5. Definitions i. Ringing Master Otherwise Tower Captain or Conductor, being the person with delegated powers from the Incumbent or alternative authority, with responsibility for the ringing of the bells and safety in the tower. ii. Spider Rope and pulley system with hooks upon which the ropes can be hung and drawn towards the ceiling. iii. Ringing Room Room or area from which the bells are rung. iv. Bell Chamber The area of the tower in which the bell-frame is located. v. "Up" position The bell mouth upwards and at rest supported by the stay and slider mechanism in readiness for "full-circle" ringing. vi. "Down" position The bell mouth downwards and at rest. Mark Regan Ringing Master, Worcester Cathedral. 19 November 2015 .