Worldwide celebration to mark 200^th anniversary of the Ellacombe Chimes

A worldwide celebration to mark the 200^th anniversary of a unique bell-ringing invention will take place on Saturday 26th June, led by the English parish church where it all began.

Bells will ring throughout four continents, played at noon local time in each location, to celebrate the bicentenary of the Ellacombe Chimes, which were invented at St Mary’s Church in Bitton, South Gloucestershire, in 1821.

The ‘Chime around the World’ celebration, which crosses 11 time zones, will start in New Zealand and finish in Vancouver in Canada 17 hours later. At least 100 churches and towers will be participating.

Among the many taking part in the UK are Bath Abbey, Dunblane Cathedral and Llandaff Cathedral.

Bitton Parish History Group is organising the event jointly with St Mary’s Church.

The chiming system was designed 200 years ago by the Rev’d Henry Thomas Ellacombe, from St Mary’s Church at Bitton, near Bristol. The apparatus, now used in bell towers across the world, enables one trusted person to ring the bells instead of six or eight bell ringers. Ellacombe originally made the invention to dispense with ‘wayward’ bell ringers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic the invention has enabled bells to continue to be rung.

A 150-page paperback book, called Ellacombe Chimes: Two Hundred Years ((ISBN 978-1-304-70761-1) has been published to mark the bicentenary. It features the participating churches/towers, as well as the history of the chimes and its inventor.

The book is available from the publisher, Lulu priced £13.78, plus delivery. Any profits from the sale will go to St Mary’s.

A list of participants can be found here:

http://www.bittonhistory.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Participants-061621.pdf

Key contacts by country/region are shown here: http://www.bittonhistory.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Key-contacts.pdf

A video showing the invention is shown here: https://youtu.be/NH5WDNrLFo8

For further information on the chimes please visit: http://www.bittonhistory.org.uk/ellacombe-chimes/

For more information or HD photos contact Mike Gates, secretary of Bitton Parish History Group, at [email protected] or on 07985 956454

Appointment of Assistant Director of Music

The Dean and Chapter of Llandaff Cathedral are delighted to announce the appointment of Aaron Shilson as Assistant Director of Music. The new, full-time post of Assistant Director of Music has been newly created following the announcement that the Cathedral music department will take formal responsibility for the Girl Choristers of the Cathedral School from September 2021.

Aaron comes to us from Ely Cathedral, where he has held the post of Assistant Organist to Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir for the better part of four years.  Prior to this, he held posts at the cathedrals in St Davids, Manchester and Leeds.  His duties at Ely include accompanying and directing the Cathedral Girls’ Choir, as well as working with the other choirs.  He has appeared with them on BBC radio broadcasts and several recordings for the Regent record label.  He was also Assistant Organist at Selwyn College Cambridge, accompanying them on their tour to the USA, performing at venues such as St Thomas’s Church, Fifth Avenue and The Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City, and at the Washington National Cathedral.

Aaron’s organ studies began at the Boys’ Grammar School in Dover.  As an undergraduate he studied at Leeds Conservatoire (formerly Leeds College of Music), and later at the Royal Northern College of Music, holding the college’s Frederick Lunt exhibition and Meadowcroft prize for organ.  He has been fortunate enough to study with Benjamin Saunders, Darius Battiwalla, Gordon Stewart and Stephen Farr.

On being appointed, Aaron said:

“I’m really happy to have been appointed as Assistant Director of Music.  This is clearly a very exciting time indeed at Llandaff Cathedral, and I’m really looking forward to joining such a positive and talented team and getting fully involved with musical life of the cathedral.”

Llandaff Cathedral’s Director of Music, Stephen Moore, is also looking forward to the future. He said:

“Aaron brings with him a wealth of experience having previously worked in many other cathedrals. He beat off competition from a very strong set of applicants for the post and I’m greatly looking forward to working with him in shaping music at Llandaff for the future.”

Aaron will take up his duties in September 2021, subject to legal formalities.

The Cathedral Chapter AGM will be available to watch live at 7.00pm below: