APPROXIMATELY 20 people recently turned out to Altarnun’s St Nonna’s Church to have a go at bellringing, and learn more about the beautiful historic church.

The ancient doors to St Nonna’s Church in Altarnun were opened up to the public on Saturday, September 15, as part of English Heritage’s annual initiative to open up around 5,000 historic sites across the UK, and allowing members of the public to look around and find out more about their local historic places.

The church was glad to open up its doors to the public, also allowing people to have a go at a wonderful, but dying art — bellringing.

Pippa Perryman, secretary of the Altarnun bellringers, told the Post: “It went really well. We opened up the church to the public as part of English Heritage’s open days that take place in around 5,000 sites all over the country. The whole idea is for people to have a look and have a go at things they may not have tried before. We’ve been running these open days for about three years now.”

The church welcomed approximately 20 people to learn more about the church and village’s interesting history, as well as encouraging them to have a go at bellringing — having now recruited three new bellringers to their group.

“It’s a dying art,” Pippa continued. “We have about 12 registered bellringers, but about eight to ten of us do it regularly. We’d like to try and encourage more young people to get into it.”

The bellringers practice every Wednesday, and encourage anyone who may be interested in joining, or even just giving it a try, to turn up to their practice.

“It’s a very difficult thing to get right,” Pippa said. “It can take a few months, or even up to a year, to finally get the hang of it. I don’t think people understand just how difficult it really is.”

Pippa is secretary of the bellringers group, and has been bellringing at Altarnun for two years. She said: “I love it. I wouldn’t say I’m good at it, but I’m proficient, let’s say. But it’s a very rewarding thing to do.

“It requires you to have a basic level of fitness, as it can be quite heavy and tricky, but you don’t have to be musical or anything — you just need to have a bit of rhythm so you can get going!”