A new name

We rang a peal on the morning of All Saints Day. That’s not unusual – we attempt a peal for All Saints Tide most years, on the day itself or on the nearest Saturday, and this year 1 November was a Saturday.

But what we rang was unusual. You might know that ringing ‘methods’ (tunes) have special names, for example if you read one of the notices we put outside the church during special public performances you might have seen methods named: Yorkshire, Cambridge, Lincolnshire, Berkshire and several others. We normally stick to a few common methods, but tens of thousands have been named, after places, plants, animals, constellations, events and many other things. Over 100 new methods are devised, named and rung each year.

The first time we first devised a new method was for the peal on Sunday 4th November 1990 to marks church’s 800th anniversary celebration. That was the first ever peal of Wokingham Surprise Major.

This year we named another new method, and again the name had a special significance. We called it All Saints Day Surprise Major and we rang it in the peal on the morning of All Saints Day. In the 18th and much of the 19th century ringing performances were published in local newspapers but since the late 19th century they have been published in specialist ringing publications like The Ringing World, and today they are also recorded in an online database, BellBoard. The All Saints Day peal is at: bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=1897660  

Having rung it, we hope it will become part of our standard repertoire.

The peal band at the end of three hours ringing

John Harrison (Nov 2025)