Family band of bell ringers ready for the King's Coronation

Three generations of the same Northumberland family are preparing to ring church bells for the King's Coronation this weekend.

Jean Darby, 79, her daughter Ruth Darby, 50, and 16-year-old grand-daughter Izzy will be in action at St Michael's in Alnwick.

In 2021, the church received 10 new bells following a project led by volunteer bell ringer Jim Crowther.

And one of those bells has been dedicated to Jean's late husband, Baz.

"Once [the bells] were in, Jim suggested that - as we had sponsored a bell - perhaps I should ring it and the rest is history," Mrs Darby said.

After she took up the hobby, Ruth and Izzy also decided to pitch in.

As a raw novice, Ruth found it tricky when she was shown the ropes but she stuck with it because she wanted to ring her father's bell.

"It's kind of scary at first," she said.

"Everything comes so fast, the bells are quite heavy above you, but the bell says 'ring out joyfully in memory of Baz Darby' so we have to ring it nicely."

The opportunity to add more bells into the church was not an easy task and was several years in the planning, Mr Crowther said.

Six were moved from St James's in Newton Hall and four brand new ones were cast by specialist company, Taylors of Loughborough.

Hexham Abbey is the only other church in the county to have 10 bells.

Mr Crowther teaches many of the bellringing recruits in Alnwick and admits they "can't cope with the demand".

"I just don't know how they've all appeared," he said.

"The group's just so big we can't fit in enough hours in the day to teach all these people."

He explains a normal practice is one-and-a-half hours long, but it can be several hours instead due to the size of the group.

Grand-daughter Izzy was reluctant to take up the practice, but is pleased she did.

"It's different to the skills people of my age normally have," she said.

Since the project began, other teenagers have also been keen to take part, with at least two joining the group of about 30 ringers.

They are now looking forward to celebrating the King's coronation and playing their part in history.

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