Full peal, St Mary Magdalene

A group of bell ringers have challenged themselves to ring a peal at all the 5-bell towers (i.e. towers with 5 bells) in the Peterborough Diocese, during its centenary year.

These 5-bell towers are not rung so often, and they will be visiting Cottingham on June 2nd. Ringing will commence at 2pm and the peal is expected to last around three hours.

When rung on 7 bells, a peal is a non-stop sequence of a minimum of 5,000 changes, where each sequence is different and cannot be repeated. On 5 bells, which is what we have at Cottingham, the maximum number of permutations (different orders) is 120, so there is some duplication in the sequences, but the bells are still rung for three hours to make the full peal. It is the bell ringers’ equivalent of a marathon, requiring concentration and stamina to complete.