Welcome to the home of the Hornchurch Bell Ringers. Please take a look around to find out more about the art of bellringing and what the ringers get up to at St. Andrew's.
Learn to Ring
Interested in learning to ring church bells? All ages and welcome.
The 2026 Ringing World National Youth Contest took place in Nottingham.
The Essex Young Eagles entered 3 teams in the competition.
They were placed joint 4th in the Basic Call Change Competition, joint 5th in the Call Change Competition, and FIRST in the 6-Bell Method Ringing Competition out of sixteen teams! Well done Essex Eagles.
Moreover, 3 young ringers from Hornchurch were involved in 2 of the teams:
Ellen Hayward conducted the Basic Call Change team that came 4th. Carys Hayward conducted the Call Change team that came 5th and Jamie Slack was also part of this team.
The photos show the Hornchurch ringers that took part.
On Saturday 13th June 2026, the Annual District Striking Competition for bell ringers was held at Chigwell Row church. This was a method striking competition and teams were required to ring 240 changes of their chosen method, which took about nine minutes.
During this time, the judges assessed the accuracy of the striking and teams were given ‘faults’ for any errors in their ringing.
St Andrew’s entered a team, young and old, who rang well together and accrued a low score of just 42 faults.
This was good enough to achieve first place ahead of West Ham in second place with 64 faults.
The team in the order they rang is shown in the photo below:
L – R: Ellen, Michelle, Carys, Marianne, Clive and Mark with the judges behind.
The other photo shows Carys & Ellen having just received the trophy from the judges.
On Saturday 23rd May 2026, the weather had turned warm and sunny as 50 bell ringers and friends left St Andrew’s by coach for nearby Kent.
It took about 1 hour to reach Farnborough, our first destination. Non-ringers could enjoy coffee in the quiet village or a walk in the fields behind the church. A light ring of eight bells tested the ringers handling skills but we all coped well with Ellen and Jamie ringing a course of Grandsire Triples together.
Our next stop was Shoreham, the first of three villages along the Darenth Valley. The roads became too narrow for the coach and a short walk to the church across a farmer’s field was necessary. Coffee was gratefully received inside the church and the ground-floor ring allowed us to socialise whilst ringing the bells. Jonathan organised the ringing well and our newer ringers Kim, Val, Angela. Jane & Connor rang well, commenting that they were probably the easiest going bells of the day.
Next was lunch in the pretty village of Eynsford. Tina & Bill found a seat next to the River Darenth where children splashed and played in the sunshine. Others enjoyed a picnic inside the remains of Eynsford Castle which was free to access. The photos show Angela & friends and Val & Kim with partners inside the castle ruins.
After lunch, Marianne organised some good ringing which included Erin Triples and Spliced Surprise Major.
Our afternoon stop was a short drive to Chelsfield, another quiet spot with the church separate from the village. Another nice ring of 8 bells saw James and Carys ring three leads of Kent Major whilst Michelle completed Double Norwich for the first time. We finished with another good attempt at Spliced Surprise Major well conducted by Tony B.
For our final stop we drove back into the Darenth Valley to the pretty village of Farningham where we enjoyed a pleasant ring on the six bells before dinner at the Lion Hotel by the side of the river. A lovely end to an enjoyable day before our short journey home with no queues at the Dartford Crossing!!
One of our bell ringers, Michelle Stephenson, recently celebrated her 50th birthday on 9th January 2026.
At this time we also realised that she was just about ready to attempt her first peal.
Although apprehensive about ringing continuously for three hours, Michelle agreed to give it a go as it was an opportunity not to be missed. So, on 8th February 2026, a full peal on the ten bells of St Andrew’s was successfully completed to celebrate Michelle’s 50th.
Very well done Michelle and thanks to all who took part in this occasion.
Full details are shown below with a photograph of the band.
Essex Association
Hornchurch, Essex
St Andrew
Sunday, 8 February 2026 in 3h 20min
5039 Grandsire Caters
Composed by George F Williams
1 Michelle A Stephenson
2 Helen J Carter
3 Clara M Waller
4 Marianne R Hayward
5 Lucas J Owen
6 John M Church
7 William J Stungo
8 Roderic K Bickerton
9 Clive J Stephenson (C)
10 James P Riley
Rung to celebrate the recent 50th birthday of Michelle Stephenson and 70th birthday of Andrew Barham.
This Heritage Week, the Essex Association of Change Ringers (EACR) is pulling back the curtain on a hidden, 400-year-old tradition right on your doorstep.
Church towers across Essex and East London are throwing open their doors for a series of special community recruitment events, inviting the public to step inside the ringing chamber and discover the living art of change ringing.
What to Expect at Your Local Open Day:
Step Inside History: Explore traditional ringing chambers, view historic peal boards, and discover the fascinating stories and centuries of history behind your local church’s bells.
Live Demonstrations: See local community bands in action and watch the incredible coordination, technique, and timing it takes to control these massive instruments.
Meet the Band: Chat with everyday people from your neighbourhood who share a passion for this extraordinary, uniquely British art form.
Your New Hobby Awaits!
You don’t need to be musical, mathematically minded, or physically strong to learn. Bell ringing relies entirely on technique, timing, and rhythm, offering a unique, low-impact physical activity and a sharp mental puzzle that serves as a workout for your brain. It is a warm, inclusive fellowship open to everyone from ages 9 to 80+.
Come make some noise, connect with your community, and find out how we pass this historic skill from generation to generation.
Find your nearest participating tower, dates, and times by visiting www.eacr.org.uk.
On Saturday 8th November, the bell ringers were joined by Revd Ken Wylie for our annual dinner at Marygreen Manor in Brentwood.
There were 40 bell ringers and friends in total and we were fortunate enough to have a room to ourselves for pre-dinner drinks and then the restaurant to ourselves for the main event.
Clive started by welcoming everyone, especially Ken and then we thought about ringers who couldn’t be with us due to ill-health; Ray Rogers and George Hull are currently being cared for in nursing homes.
Ken remembered them in our prayers as well as the family of Roger Butt who recently passed away. Roger and his wife Anita regularly supported our outings and dinners over a period of at least 30 years.
Our dinner followed with excellent service and people commented on how much they had enjoyed their meals and the company of friends.
On Saturday 27th September, St Andrew’s bell ringers took part in the District Call Change Competition at Walthamstow, St Saviours.
This is an annual event where teams ring for five to eight minutes and are judged on the accuracy of their striking.
There were 5 bands taking part this year. Our team of six rang very well and accrued a low score of 53 faults for our competition piece.
This was good enough to win the competition for the fourth consecutive year!
Congratulations to our winning team shown in the photo below. Those taking part were Clive, Michelle, Marianne (absent in photo), Charles, Ethan & Mark.
The other photo shows Mark Lendon receiving the trophy from the judges.
The bell ringers’ autumn coach outing took 40 of us to Hertfordshire for the morning and Bedfordshire for the afternoon.
We started in Stevenage, the first of England’s ‘New Towns’ with the church a long way from the town centre. The church had excellent facilities and we were provided with refreshments throughout our visit. The bells here were easy to ring and everyone rang well from Call Changes to Bristol Major.
Our next stop in Baldock coincided with the annual ‘Balstock’ street festival to entertain our non-ringing friends. Here the bells were heavy and more difficult but our young ringers Charles, James Dunhill and James Riley enjoyed the challenge of the tenor to Grandsire Triples and Stedman Triples.
Our lunch venue in Henlow was opposite the church and aptly named ‘The Five Bells’; non-ringers could take their time whilst the ringers went off to ring.
At Clifton we enjoyed another pleasant and easy-going set of bells before our final stop in the market town of Biggleswade. These are a lovely ring of ten bells where we were able to ring Stedman Caters and Little Bob Royal.
Our younger ringers were able to ring well here with Jamie Slack ringing the treble to Bob Caters and Ellen Hayward the treble to Grandsire Caters; both for the first time. The photos below show both Jamie and Ellen outside the church at Henlow along with their parents and other ringers.
Our thanks must go to organisers John Church and Jonathan Slack for a well-planned day with excellent food, ringing and company from our members and friends.
On Saturday 12th July, St Andrew’s bell ringers took part in the Essex Association striking competition finals at Sandon, near Chelmsford.
There were ten teams from all over Essex taking part and the standard of ringing was very high as it is every year.
Each team rang 240 changes of their chosen method which took about seven minutes. We were the first to ring and were pleased with our performance containing very few errors. The judges commented later that we ‘made a confident start’ and ‘set the tone for the day.’
We were delighted to finish in third place which is our best achievement in this event for about 30 years.
Our relatively inexperienced team rang as follows:
Marianne Hayward – Treble
Carys Hayward – 2
Michelle Stephenson – 3
Nick Allen – 4
Clive Stephenson – 5
Mark Lendon – Tenor
Congratulations to all our ringers especially Carys Hayward who took part in this competition for the very first time, aged 15.
The photograph below shows our ringers in the order they rang.
