Dumfries bell ringers will be appearing in a Christmas broadcast on Border TV tonight at 7pm.
Along with two other groups of musicians from southern Scotland they will be demonstrating their unique skill that was first developed in the 16th century.
The ringers were filmed in the ringing room at St John’s Church, Newall Terrace, Dumfries, and the camera crew also recorded the bells turning in the belfry and an interview with the Tower Captain, Debbie Johnson.
St John’s church has a ring of eight bells which were installed 10 years ago in the belfry of St John’s Tower, with the heaviest five bells coming from the redundant church at the Quarriers Village orphanage at Bridge of Weir, while the three smallest bells were newly-cast at the Whitechapel bell foundry in east London.
It is the only set of traditional church bells in the whole of southern Scotland.
The ringers usually ring the bells for special Dumfries community occasions and before the regular 11am service on a Sunday morning. Practice nights are on Thursdays when the bells are either rung with the clappers silenced or the sound control doors.
Last year they made history when 13 members of the team completed the “firing the bells” tribute which rang over Dumfries to mark the coronation of King Charles III.
