Church's top brass ring in milestone

"Don't trip, it's a long fall down," warns Charles Body who is leading the way.

Charles has been clambering up this tower for more than 50 years to ring the church's eight bells, and he's never fallen. Yet. So I should be fine.

"My siblings played the violin but I really wasn't interested in learning an instrument until one day in my teens I heard the bells ringing," explains Charles.

"I could count to eight so thought I'd give it a go."

After his first lesson Charles was hooked. Within a year he was ringing the bells at weddings, funerals, and regular services at the church. And he hasn't stopped since.

"I just love it," he confesses as about half-way up the tower we reach a landing complete with an odd looking contraption that resembles an oversized abacus attached to the wall. It's backed by a music score - hundreds of numbers written on a piece of moveable canvas along with eight ropes extending higher up in the tower.

Wait. What? "Where are the bells?" I ask.

"Oh they're in the bell chamber higher up, but we ring them from here," explains Charles.

It turns out that the bells in St John's aren't rung as I'd incorrectly assumed by a group of enthusiastic bellringers pulling down on long ropes, rather by a single ringer using a technique called the 'Ellacombe Chime'.

Invented 200 years ago by Reverend Henry Ellacombe as a ploy to outwit a wayward team of bellringers he'd inherited when posted to St Mary's in the English village of Bitton, the technique is now used in more than 120 churches around the world.

In his book Practical Remarks on Belfries and Ringers (1849), Ellacombe reveals the St Mary's bawdy band of bellringers would ring the bells in exchange for bribes, often interrupting formal events taking place in the church. The installation of his unique chiming apparatus - which meant the bells could be rung by a single person, rather than drunken gangs of bellringers - brought much-needed discipline to his belfry. I bet it did.

"The stationary peal of bells are struck with a small clapper that is connected to these ropes via a system of pulleys," explains Charles, who suddenly starts his own bell ringing performance.

He pulls the ropes towards him so fast I have to ask him to stop so I can take a photo that isn't blurred.

At the end of his impromptu performance, Charles admits he made a minor error about mid-way through.

Not that I could tell.

"When a novice makes a mistake they stop, but that's the worst thing to do," explains the devout bellringer. "The advice I give my students is to keep playing because only another bell ringer would recognised the error. If you stop playing, everyone knows you've made a mistake."

While the odd rope yanked at the wrong time can easily be brushed over, when to start ringing the bells is much more time critical, especially when it comes to weddings.

"During a wedding the most important object up here is this light," says Charles, pointing at a lone light bulb just to the left of the chime apparatus.

"When the bride arrives at the church, an attendant downstairs flicks a switch which turns the light on so you know it's time to start playing," reveals Charles.

But of course the system isn't fool-proof.

"Once I was in here waiting to ring and suddenly the attendant bolted up the stairs shouting 'start playing, start playing!'" recalls Charles.

"The lightbulb had blown and I didn't know," he laughs.

This Saturday (June 26, 2021) marks the bicentenary of Ellacombe's invention and to celebrate, more than 100 churches around the world are marking the occasion with a global ring.

"Starting at noon in New Zealand, and working their way around the world, bells will be chiming at noon local time in each major time zone, finishing at St Mary's in Bitton," explains Charles who, of course, will be proudly leading the ringing effort at St John's.

However, a word of warning. If you head to St John's and listen out for the bells at noon, you might be disappointed. While the Presbyterian Church of Saint Andrew in Forrest will be ringing their 'Ellacombe Chime' bells at midday, Charles and his fellow bellringers will be a bit delayed.

"There is a funeral scheduled here at noon, so we won't start our contribution to the global ring until after the funeral party has dispersed - probably around 1pm," he explains.

I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

See you there.

Did You Know? The Church of St John the Baptist and its historic precinct in Reid is one of Canberra's treasures. Consecrated in 1845, the church and schoolhouse predate the nation's capital by almost 70 years.

The peal of eight fixed bells rung as part of the church's 'Ellacombe Chime' were gifted to St John's by the governor-general, Viscount De L'Isle, in 1963, in memory of his wife Jacqueline who died in Canberra in November 1962.

"De L'Isle fell in love with Canberra and fell in love with this church," explains Charles Body who as a child, in the early 1960s recalls the GG "seated quietly at the back of the church during Sunday services". "He wanted to give something that would benefit both the church and the broader Canberra community so he decided on the bells."

St John's first tower was struck by lightning on February 6, 1851 and the event is colourfully depicted in Gray Smith's illustration which appears on the cover of Samuel Shumack's 1977 paperback version of Tales and Legends of Canberra Pioneers (Australian National University Press). Details of the lightning strike are sketchy, but I'm not sure it was as explosive as portrayed in Gray's watercolour in which the Reverend runs for cover while a shepherd clutches a couple of frightened lambs. The tower also suffered from a subsiding foundation and was demolished in 1864 before being replaced by the current tower in 1870. The spire was added eight years later.

Just beyond the southern end of the graveyard is a surprisingly large horse paddock where parishioners once grazed their horses during church services. The paddock is now off limits to livestock of all sorts because its native grasses are a habitat for the endangered Golden Sun Moth (Synemon plana) which spends most of its life cycle underground, the female only emerging in the hot summer months to meet the dark-coloured males.

On the northern side of the church lies the grave of Flying Officer Francis Ewen, a New Zealander and graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon. Francis took part in the first mass flying display by the Royal Australian Air Force during the opening of Provisional (Old) Parliament House on May 9, 1927. Unfortunately, during the fly-past, his single-seater SE5 biplane nosedived and crashed in full view of spectators. Despite valiant efforts to save him, Francis died of his injuries later that day. His unusually designed grave is located mid-way between the church sundial and the crypt. Two Canberra researchers have recently uncovered new information about the crash and will be divulging their findings in a 'tell all' walk for the National Trust of Australia (ACT) on July 25. Bookings essential via www.nationaltrust.org.au/act/

Clue: Off the beaten track, and yes, it's a letterbox.

Degree of difficulty: Super hard

Last week: Congratulations to K.A. Moylan who was first to correctly identify last week's photo as being taken in 1977 during the 50th anniversary of Herbert Schlink's inaugural ski crossing from Kiandra to the Hotel Kosciuszko. The photo was taken in front of the Kiandra Hotel/Chalet which, as Matthew Higgins points out, 'contained' the old courthouse (razed in the 2020 fires). From left to right, in the foreground are Bill Gordon and Bill Hughes, who were both part of Schlink's five-man team in 1927, and none other than good friend of this column Klaus Hueneke, resplendent in period gear he "bought at a Salvos shop the week before".

"One way it's about 65km, but on a good day with firm snow it can be done in two days," reports Klaus, who has completed the route twice. "Some have done it three times including a couple who went there and back in one trip."

According to Klaus "the record for the very fit is about 6.5 hours which was given a real shake by two Jindabyne locals last year. "It helps to get up very early and have snow all the way ... they picked the right day."

Standing upright in the middle of the photo are the childhood skis Klaus and his siblings learnt on, while Bill Crawshaw also dug up a photo of Klaus taken on the same day with his father's hickory skis from the 1930s.

The 50th anniversary commemorative crossing from Kiandra to Kosciuszko (with most participants finishing at Guthega) features in Klaus' 1979 short film Huts of the Snowy Mountains which can now be viewed on YouTube.

According to Klaus, "there's talk of celebrating the 100th anniversary in in 2027". Who's in?

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to tym@iinet.net.au. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday 26 June, 2021, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick