Ring for the King: Quest to find enough volunteer bell-ringers for Charles’s coronation unlikely to hit target | UK News
The quest to find enough people to ring the bell to “ring the King’s bell” on Coronation day is unlikely to be achieved despite the hundreds of recruits coming forward.
The call to find enough people to ring each of the nation’s 38,000 bells on May 6 began in October.
But of the 8,000 people in need of a supplement, only 1,500 have volunteered so far.
Ten-year-old Lexie Roberts is one of them. She started ringing the bell three weeks ago at St Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks, Kent, and can’t wait to play her part on this historic occasion.
Lexie Roberts started ringing the bell three weeks ago
“My mother told me I could ring the bell at the King’s Coronation if I practiced a lot,” she said.
“There will be tons of other people across the country doing it.
“It would be great because I can brag to my siblings about it!”
Elisa Wickham, 11, is used to ringing the school bell to call everyone in to start the day, but this is different.
“It was very interesting but I was worried I would do it wrong,” she said.
Elisa Wickham is used to ringing the school bell, but this time is different
“You’d think you had to pull the rope down really hard, but you need to relax a bit when you do that.”
As tower captain, Caroline Stockmann is in charge of ringing the church bells and is happy that the challenge of finding recruits for the Coronation is bringing this skill to a new audience.
“It’s an incentive for them to do something really, really special that might be the only chance of their lives, who knows,” she said.
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Caroline Stockmann is in charge of ringing the bells at the church
“We hope it will bring in different generations, different people from different diverse backgrounds.”
The church was also among the muffled bells ringing at the Queen’s funeral.
Ms Stockmann added: “For King Charles’ Coronation, we can ring the bells in celebration across the country and it would be glorious to hear that sound.”
Vicki Chapman from the Central Council of Church Bellers is concerned that there won’t be enough time to train a complete novice over the next seven weeks.
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“It would be a lot if they didn’t have a lot of free time,” she said.
She suggests that experienced bell ringers end up going from church to church to ensure that every community can hear the bells.
