photo of the Feckenham Parish Church of St John the Baptist
OS: SP009616 show on a map

Feckenham, St John the Baptist

You can find Feckenham Parish Church up a short lane off the north side of the village square. There is a little parking on the Square and also on the adjoining High Street.

It is a quite a large church with a rather squat looking tower. Access to the ringing room is up a short flight of steps from the inside of the tower. It is a big room with a glass wall overlooking the main body of the Church.

2007-05-15

I visited for the first time on Tuesday 15th May 2007. There were only six of us but they really put me to work and stretched my meagre talents! I should have got an inkling that they were a talented bunch when I noticed that there was a method on the wall called "Feckenham Surprise Major". After ringing up we started with a few gentle call changes, in this tower they call changes towards the back. During the evening we rang call changes and Plain Hunt on 5 several times on the back 6 bells.

The "interesting" ringing only used the back 5. I rang Plain Hunt Minimus on a couple of bells, I rang Plain Bob Doubles on bell #3, something I am used to doing on 6 bells with the Tenor covering at the back. With only 5 bells leading is a little trickier and it all goes a bit faster. I then rang Plain Bob Doubles on bell #2 which I found difficult since I had no chance to look at what needed to be done, I had to rely on what I knew in theory but have not much experience of doing in practice. I failed to get this right most times but did get it on a couple of tries. This was really good practice for me since I do want to learn to do Plain Bob Doubles on any bell so that I can progress on to a full course with bobs.

If all that wasn't enough they got me to provide cover on the Tenor for some methods I had never done before. We did Stedman Minimus and Norwich Surprise Minimus. Luckily for me they were very good and I managed to stay at the back without a great deal of difficulty. I had a really enjoyable night!

The Bells

When I visited again on Tuesday 22nd April 2008 I found a lot more information about the bells. The tower has a ring of 8 bells with a tenor weighing 11-3-24 in F. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St John the Baptist, additional information is provided by the Worcestershire & Districts Change Ringing Association and Church Bells in Worcestershire.

BellNoteDiameter  Weight ?  Inscription
1 Dove's Guide
to the bells at
St John the Baptist
J Taylor & Co, Founders, Loughborough. 1866
2 J Taylor & Co, Founders, Loughborough. 1866
3 Joseph Hemming and Getly did contrive to have 6 where was but 5.
4 Cantate Dominocanticum novum. 1676
Recast 1961 Taylor Loughboro
in Memory of our father mother and only sister   W D and R V Adams
5 Henry Baglee made me. 1640
6 God Save the King. H.B. 1640
Recast 1961 Taylor Loughboro
God Save the Queen  Feckenham Ringers
7 cast at Glo'ster by T. Mears.  1841
Tenor By my voyce people may know to come to heare the word of God.  1640
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