WANGARATTA'S Holy Trinity Cathedral, from where the magnificent sound of pealing bells resonated across the town on Queen Elizabeth the Second's Platinum Jubilee last month, held fond memories for Beechworth's Graeme Heyes.
A bell–ringer for the extraordinary June occasion, Graeme had also rung the bells to mark the Queen's coronation in 1952 at St Peters Anglican Church in Ballarat.
"It was also special because that was the first time I'd rung a peal and it was something new for me as only one other peal had been rung on St Peters 80 year old bells," he said.
"A peal is a generic description of the music we ring on the bells and there is a great variety of music.
"The music piece we rang for the Queen's coronation was called Plain Bob Minor and took about three hours to complete.
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"To think it's now 70 years later and to be able to ring on the Queen's Platinum Jubilee was incredibly special."
Graeme, who has been ringing the bells as part of a team at the Anglican Christ Church in Beechworth on and off for close to twenty years, grew up in Ballarat where his interest sparked at just 15 years old when still at high school.
"It appealed to me as it was something very different," the sprightly 87–year–old said.
"It was just after the war and I never had any money, nor did anyone else I knew, but I discovered I could earn 10 shillings and six pence – which was a lot of money in those days – by ringing bells for weddings at St Peters Anglican Church in Ballarat.
"I quickly learned the bells and could earn enough to be rich – well teenager rich."
The eight bells at St Peter's could be set up for full circle ringing, in the English style, or alternately as a chime.
Full circle ringing requires one ringer per bell whereas chiming can be done by a single person.
"Another young chap was interested in learning too, because the church's bells hadn't been rung full circle for about 50 years and we thought we'd like to get them up and running," Graeme said.
"We learned to ring at Ballarat Town Hall, and then undertook mechanical restoration at St Peters to get the bells ringing again, and then rang bells at both the Church and Town Hall."
With three significant aspects to bell ringing – controlling the bell, team work and learning the music – Graeme says the practice is quite an effort where skilled people are needed.
"It provides both good physical and mental exercise that keeps me fit.
"In pulling ropes you need to learn to ring the bell right every time without over exertion and if you constantly pull too hard, you're fighting against the bell and can't last three hours."
There are two possible arrangements for musical bells; one has full circle rotation such as the arrangement in Beechworth's Christ Church which is the English style and requires a ringer for each bell, and only occurs in England and British colonies.
The other is where bells can be hung dead and rung by a single person from a keyboard.
When the number of bells is less than two octaves it is called a chime and if more than two octaves it is called a carillon.
Since Graeme began ringing bells in 1949, he has rung them close to non–stop locally and regionally for countless weddings and church services such as for Easter and at Christmas and other special occasions, as well as ringing them in other churches around the world.
While team tower captain at St Paul's Cathedral, Graeme holds a special memory of ringing the passing bell to proclaim the death of Sir Winston Churchill, some 25 minutes after the event was made public.
Travelling internationally with his CSIRO career as a mineral resources researcher before retiring in 1998, Graeme combined his work with a love of bell–ringing in other countries as well as across Australia.
While tripping to speak to colleagues, learn about their work and visit mining operations, Graeme was always on the lookout for bell towers.
"I think there are about 60 churches with musical bells around the nation and I've rung in about 50 of them," he said.
With a friendly bell fraternity around Australia and overseas, Graeme has rung in churches in England, South Africa, Canada and the United States.
While team tower captain for many years at St Paul's Cathedral and St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Graeme climbed a spiral staircase with a massive 63 steps to the top in each church.
"These days when I go to St Patrick's, the last six steps are a challenge," he said.
"In Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral the ringing chamber is hard to get into as you have to climb up a spiral staircase, walk across the roof and then up some more stairs."
With an ongoing passion for ringing bells that keeps him busy in Beechworth, Albury and Wangaratta, Graeme said it is satisfying when it all works, getting the music right, with the reward of the bells' majestic sounds.
Besides his love of continuing the traditional practice that dates back centuries, Graeme's life–long interest in his work has also been ongoing where he is an Honorary Fellow in the CSIRO's Mineral Resources Flagship with his research centred around flotation for mineral processing used to extract minerals.
For anyone interested in learning to ring the Christ Church bells, contact Graeme on mobile 0419 370 851 or by email at heyesgraeme@gmail.com.
