After the excitement in the village over the Diamond Jubilee the ringers ended up being rather depleted with a number of the band on holiday and away. There was not actually enough of us to ring so we were unable to actually ring to celebrate the event. We do plan to ring on the opening of the Olympics as all church bells have been asked to ring at various points connected with the torch relay and the opening ceremony.

Lea Marston bells have once again been in action being rung for both the United Service at the beginning of June and for a wedding later on. They continue to ring nicely and the clean environment is much better to ring in as we no longer get dust and other undesirable dirt dropped on our head!

We have a new recruit who has now been learning for a couple of months now and is just getting to grips with ringing a bell in rounds. Emily has done well but needs a lot more practice yet but is also stirring John into action as she is fast catching him up! As usual if you fancy a new hobby or are curious as to what happens come and visit us on a Thursday practice night from 8pm.

We are looking forward to 2012 as we have a number of events to ring for. This year sees the 35th anniversary of the bells being installed in the tower as well as of course the Diamond Jubilee year. In addition to this all church bells are going to be rung to celebrate the start of the 2012 Olympic Games.

Recently we have managed to ring the bells at Lea Marston Church for the United Benefice service which is the first time we have rung these three bells for over a year. The belfry has been cleaned and the bells greased and cleared of debris which makes them much more pleasant to ring.

We have developed a new website in an effort to break into this new form of communication. Much effort has been taken to record the details of the quarter peals and peals which have been rung at St Giles since 1977 and these are now available to view online. In addition we have a number of historical photographs and information about the installation of the bells. The site is being used to advertise what the bellringers do as well as to showcase our achievements.

We are on the look out for interesting photographs – is anyone able to offer pictures of our bells going round the village in 1977 on a lorry or being unloaded? We would love to copy them and publish in our history section of our website.