We held a successful practice on the Wren mini-ring on Saturday 22nd November. 2025.

Fortunately the recent snow had mostly cleared from the roads; and despite a clash with a Wales rugby match, and a local peal attempt, a total of 11 people rang a selection of rounds and call changes; Plain Bob and Grandsire.

Many of those present were new to mini-rings so we started with rounds, and built from there as confidence grew.

Certainly, by the end of the session the standard of ringing (and confidence) showed significant progress.

My thanks to all who were able to attend, helping to make the session a success. I hope everyone enjoyed the practice session as much as I.

The Wren Maypole made its first public appearance on 13th August 2025 at the Nevern Show in Pembrokeshire.

There was much interest generated with members of the public from toddlers to retirees trying their hand at ringing. I lost count of the numbers early on in the day. A number of lapsed ringers, and also non-ringers, expressed an interest in contacting their local towers to take the experience further. Many were visitors from outside the area, so we may never know the true extent of the outcome. Many of our visitors were intrigued to learn about what we do and how we do it.

My thanks to the members of the St Davids Diocesan Guild of Bellringers for their support as helpers on the day; Nevern Church for kindly hosting us on their stand; and to Trevor Arnold of Maypole Bells for travelling up from Kent to lend his support and expertise.

The addition of a Maypole ring to the Wren Mini Ring aims to increase awareness and accessibility of ringing to the public; and is suitable to make a presence at public events.

Picture courtesy of Maypole Bells Ltd.

The Wren Maypole was supplied by Trevor Arnold of Maypole Bells. Further details can be found on their website at

http://www.maypolebells.co.uk

The first outing will be on Wednesday 13th August 2025 at the Nevern Show (https://nevern.show/about-the-show/) courtesy of Nevern Church. Do please come and visit us if you are able.

The Wren Maypole is a mobile mini ring and is available for hire initially in the South West Wales area.

https://funwithbells.com/episode/more-than-a-hobby-a-celebration-of-bellringing

Following the inclusion of lightweight rings of bells in Dove, the Wren Mini ring listing can be found at:

https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/tower/25231

https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/24767975.pembrokeshire-mp-backs-st-marys-bell-restoration-project/

Henry Tufnell MP advocates for Pembroke’s bell restoration project

I am hoping to arrange a first quarter peal on the Wren Mini ring sometime in December 2024. I suspect a Saturday or Sunday afternoon would be most suitable.

I would like to reserve this particular quarter for local ringers if possible please.

Since we are mostly new to Mini rings locally, I would suggest a modest method (e. g. Plain Bob or Grandsire) but am open to suggestions. It should be possible to arrange a couple of practice sessions beforehand.

If anyone would be interested in taking part please contact me.

contact@wrenminiring.org

Thanks.

Mike James

Following a successful final install, an initial tryout of the mini ring was conducted on Saturday 28th October 2024.

A total of sixteen guests including local ringers, and visitors from as far afield as Gloucester, Exeter, and California USA attended the session. I have since received feedback on how enjoyable the event was.

Some pictures of the session and also of the bells during installation are shown below.

My thanks to Simon for supplying the video.

Martin Brian Hough

After a hectic 4 and a half days, this 12 bell mini ring has been cast and tuned.
It took 15 pours to get the twelve bells you see here. The first pour was a disaster, but after some modifications to the casting boxes, we got on a roll. The other two extras were down to quality control, and machining problems!
Overall, I would say that casting is horrible, dirty, smelly, and hard work.

I did all of the machining and tuning on my lathe, without a computer with sound wave analysis programmes, or any other electronic tuning gadgets. It was all done by ear. I’m sure that if they were analysed closely, there would be anomalies, but I am more than happy with how they sound!

Isaac O’shea

The tuning is stretched a little bit. The same thing at Pierhead and Leeds. Won’t be as noticeable once they’re hung and will have the desired effect.

Quotes from the casting team, taken from Martin’s Facebook post with permission.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bellringers/permalink/10161423549020859/