News Archive

Ringing at St Peter's in memory of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh

The tenor bell at St Peter's Church in Derby City Centre tolled shortly after 5pm on Frday 9th April, 2021, as a mark of respect to HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who had died earlier that day.

Under normal circumstances all of the eight bells would be rung half-muffled for such an occasion, but due to Coronavirus restrictions, only a single bell could be rung. As a result, the ringing was in the form of the 'Nine Tailors', where the bell struck three groups of three, to indicate the death of a male, and then a further ninety-nine times at five-second intervals, once for each year of the Duke's life.

The tenor bell was tolled again on Saturday 17th April, during the time of the Duke's funeral procession from the Inner Hall of Windsor Castle to St George's Chapel.

Published 09/04/2021
Updated 18/04/2021

Service ringing suspended

Ringing has been suspended again from 28/10/2020. This is due to the City Council requesting that households no longer mix indoors, in anticipation that Derby will shortly be placed under tier 2 restrictions.

Published 28/10/2020

Service ringing restarts at St Peter's

Following relaxation of the lockdown restrictions, it is planned to start ringing for services at St Peter's from Sunday 16th August. Unfortunately this has to be by invitation only for the time being. See the What's On page for further details.

Published 06/08/2020

St Peter's Tower in the News

A collection of of news articles related to the tower, ringing and ringers at St Peter's Church, Derby is now available as as PDF. It can be downloaded from the Tower History page.

Published 11/04/2020

All Ringing at St Peter's is CANCELLED

Due to the request from the Prime Minister and Chief Medical Officer for unnecessary travel and social contact to be avoided, all ringing at St Peter's is currently cancelled.

The situation will be kept under review.

Published 16/03/2020

Beyond Grandsire - CANCELLED

The Beyond Grandsire practice on Saturday 28th March, 2020 has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Click here for details.

Published 15/03/2020

Preventing the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19)

As people in the ringing room are in close proximity and will be handling the same ropes, we are asking everyone coming in to the tower to take the following steps:

• Wash your hands before coming up the tower. Use the sinks in the toilets off the entrance foyer.

• Tissues and hand sanitiser are available in the ringing room. Use the tissues to catch any coughs and sneezes, dispose of them in the bin, and then clean your hands with the sanitiser.

• Wash your hands again before leaving the church.

We will keep this under review and adjust the requirements as necessary.

• The latest advice from the Diocese of Derby can be found here.

• The latest government advice from can be found here.

Published 03/03/2020

Alterations to the ringing schedule

29/03/2020 No service ringing (Derby 10K run)

13/04/2020 No Practice (bank holiday)

25/05/2020 No Practice (bank holiday)

07/06/2020 No service ringing (Derby half-marathon)

31/08/2020 No Practice (bank holiday)

Published 18/01/2020

75th Anniversary of VE Day

We plan to ring to mark this annversary. More details will be available nearer the time.

https://cccbr.org.uk/2019/06/18/ve-day-75th-anniversary/

Published 18/01/2020

Alterations to the ringing schedule over Christmas/New Year 2019/20

There is no morning service, so no ringing, on Sunday 22nd December

There is no practice on Monday 30th December (there will be a peal attempt instead)

Published 20/11/2019

Remembrance Ringing 2019

The bells will be half-muffled for the following ringing, as a mark of respect to the fallen (including St Peter's ringer William Davies).

• Sunday 10/11/2018, 10:00 - 10:45. Service ringing.

• Sunday 10/11/2018, 17:00 - 18:00, Quarter peal attempt.

• Monday 11/11/2018, 19:30 - 21:00. Weekly practice.

A list of ringers lost in the Great War can be seen in the Central Council Rolls of Honour.

Published 24/10/2019

Ringing for the installation of the new Bishop of Derby

A quarter peal was rung on Saturday 25/05/2019, to mark the installation of the Rt Rev Libby Lane as the 8th Bishop of Derby, which took place at the cathedral earlier in the day.

Published 25/05/2019

Ringing for Notre Dame

In common with many other churches, the tenor bell at St Peter's rang for 7 minutes starting at 19:00 on Thursday 18th April. This was an initiative suggested by the British Ambassador to France, and encouraged by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

Published 18/04/2019

Geoff Abel

A quarter-peal was rung on Friday 11th January in memory of Geoff Abel, a former ringer and churchwarden at St Peter's who died on 1st January 2019 aged 92. Details can be seen here.

Published 11/02/2019

Ringing for the Centenary of the WWI Armistice

The following ringing took place:

• 09/11/2018, 19:30, A half-muffled quarter peal in memory of the fallen (including St Peter's ringer William Davies).

• 11/11/2018, 10:00, Half-muffled service ringing.

• 11/11/2018, 19:05, Quarter peal for Battle's Over.

Details of ringing at other towers can be seen at can be seen on BellBoard and Armistice 100.

A list of ringers lost in the Great War can be seen in the Central Council Rolls of Honour.

Published 11/11/2018

Thorsten Sjolin

A quarter-peal was rung on Friday 26th October in memory of Thorsten Sjolin, a former ringer at St Peter's who died on 21st September 2018 aged 81. Details can be seen here.

Published 27/10/2018

Simulator Update

A pair of hand-held motion sensors has been added to the simulator, allowing an individual to practice change ringing with handbells. See the simulator page for more details.

Published 28/07/2018

Kenyan ringers training at St Peter's

During July 2017, three ringers from Kilifi in Kenya had two days intensive training with us as part of a two-week training visit to the UK. Click here for details.

Published 11/08/2017