Derbyshire bellringers to mark armistice

The organisers of Battle’s Over, an event marking the Armistice, are hoping more than 1,000 churches and cathedrals throughout the country will participate by ringing their bells simultaneously at 7.05pm on the night of November 11 this year in a tribute called ‘Ringing Out for Peace’.

Pageantmaster Bruno Peek urged bell ringers to take part. He said: “We want this to be the most widespread ringing of church bells since the first world war.

“It would be a fitting and moving tribute to the 1,400 or so bell ringers that we understand lost their lives during World War One.

“I have no doubt that dedicated campanologists in Britain and around the world will want to join in this once-in-a-lifetime tribute to everyone who served on the battlefields, the high seas and the home front.”

Ringing Out for Peace is part of Battle’s Over, a unique day-long commemoration of the end of the First World War taking place throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and at scores of locations overseas, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Somaliland, the United States and Germany.

It begins at 6am on November 11 with lone pipers playing ‘Battle’s O’er’, a traditional tune played after a battle, outside every cathedral in the country.

At 6.55pm buglers will sound the Last Post at more than 1,000 locations, where at 7pm ’WW1 Beacons of Light’ will be lit, signifying the light of peace that emerged from the darkness of war. Then at 7.05pm church and cathedral bells will begin to ring. The event is organised with the assistance of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers.

For more information on Ringing out for Peace visit www.brunopeek.co.uk