Starting this year, chapel service on Friday begins with bells chiming. High up in the bell tower of St. John’s Chapel, a group of Groton students stand in a circle and pull up and down on ropes extending to the ceiling, maneuvering the large bells situated two stories above.
Led by Greg Russell PhD ’77, an increasing number of Grotonians have been learning to ring the 10 church bells since 2018. Before his return to the Circle seven years ago, Dr. Russell, who is called Dr. Greg by his students, taught bellringing when he was a Groton student and also later in the 2000s.
The bellringers meet for around three hours every week in the bell tower, where Dr. Greg teaches new members first to chime the bells and then to ring them in full circles. More advanced students practice ringing in rounds, working towards complicated patterns called changes. While training, ringers learn to apply computer science and math principles to the bells, explore patterns that create changes, and teach others this art.
Groton’s 10 bells, the heaviest of which weighs approximately 2,000 pounds, were recast in 1962 from the same metal that composed the original eight bells in 1890. The school expanded from eight to 10 bells to increase the number of changes that can be rung.
In the ringing chamber, plaques with the names of all of the Groton’s bellringers since 1900 adorn the walls. Although the first 77 years of bellringing ran uninterrupted, gaps in the chronology on the wall indicate the absence of student ringers in the recent years. Although the newest plaque is from 2020, the bellringers are back in action and will have their names painted on a plaque this year if they continue Groton’s long tradition of bellringing.
According to Dr. Russell, previous iterations of Groton’s bellringing group chimed the bells for chapel every day, Sunday through Friday. This year, the ringers hope to bring back this practice, starting with Fridays and expanding it to the rest of the week as the year continues.
Seven students chimed on Prize Day 2024 while the graduating class walked out of the chapel onto the Circle. A few months before that, at Reunion, a group of old Groton bellringers met the current members and rang the bells with them for an afternoon. Some alumni had not rang in years but quickly jumped back in after a brief review from Dr. Russell, while others had continued ringing for years after their graduation.
Current students have been able to take ringing beyond Groton as well. Students from New York City have chimed at Trinity Church, while students living in Washington, D.C. were invited to the National Cathedral, whose belfry was partly inspired by St. John’s Chapel.
Even those who do not live near a belltower will get the chance to ring far and wide, as the Groton ringers are joining the choir GEO to chime changes in Ireland, Wales, and England. On the GEO, students will engage with every aspect of the bellringing world. In addition to meeting members of the longstanding community and ringing with other high schoolers, they will explore different towers and learn their histories, as well as experience firsthand the architecture and music of the bells in the very churches where the practice of bellringing originated.
