So swell to win with bells

Two Chronicle Country bell ringers were part of a team that triumphed in a national competition.

Alice and Clarrie Scott – who are bell ringers at St Andrew’s Church in Biggleswade – won first prize with the Bedfordshire team at the Ringing World National Youth Contest in York.

A nine-strong team of young bell ringers travelled to St Lawrence’s Church in the historic city for the contest against 15 other teams from across the country.

Alice said: “We rang our test piece late in the afternoon, and in some ways benefited from the lack of an audience, as tea and cake were in high demand.

“We performed well and we were pleased with our test piece, and we may even had said that we enjoyed it, despite the nerves!”

Judges from the area gave the Beds team an A grade so they ended up in the top two.

To determine the winner the judges looked back at the percentages achieved by the teams, and the Beds side won with 80 per cent.