HOLY Trinity Anglican Church Orange Pealers have brought the ancient art of bell ringing into the 21st century with the installation of an electronic training simulator, the first of its kind in NSW.
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The Virtual Belfry is the brainchild of Tasmanian IT expert and bell ringer Doug Nichols, who designed it to improve the techniques of ringers and assist in the training of new ringers several years ago.
Ringers train one-on-one with the computer, which enables the individual to ring one bell while the program rings the others.
Holy Trinity’s bell tower captain Jennifer Derrick was one of the first to test out the new program on Wednesday during a training day with the program’s creator.
She said the program was an “enormous asset for the tower” as it required the ringer to keep up with the “perfect” computer.
“The computer waits for no one,” Mrs Derrick said. “The emphasis is training the ringer to actually listen for their own bell in a peal of seven or eight bells, rather than watch the movements of the other ringers.
“When you’re pulling on the rope it could take the bell half a second to ring out. Heavier bells take longer to rotate, so if you’re ringing after a heavier bell, you need to wait three quarters of a second longer before you ring yours.”
The bell tower is home to eight bells, with the oldest bell from Kidderminster in England cast in 1754.
Mrs Derrick said the Orange Pealers would use the simulator as part of their regular training program, and it would help them prepare for this year’s Kookaburra Cup, a competition for bell ringers in country NSW in September.
“It’s our holy grail,” Mrs Derrick said. “We’ve come second and third a couple of times, but we’ve never actually won it. It will hopefully give us that extra edge.”
