Tom Helyer:
Bell ringing is a big part of my life
Wearing a maroon T-shirt and faded blue jeans with a rope moving up and down in his slender but strong hands, he looks serious. Sometimes he glances at his colleagues to make sure they have it right and sometimes he keeps his head down to concentrated. This is the first time I have met Tom Helyer, a 20-year old computer science student from Newcastle University and a bell ringer for 8 years.
It’s not hard to notice him at once among the group whose average age is above 50. And “above average” is how he describes his own ability of bell ringing. He goes to at least three churches in Jesmond, Gosforth and Fenham every week and spends an hour or two on practicing at each since there are not enough bell ringers to form a band.
When asked why he loves bell ringing, Tom said: “Honestly, I’ve never known any single hobby other than this. You can turn up to any bell tower at a practice night, announce you’re a ringer and they’ll welcome you with open arms. ”
Just as he likes problem-solving and challenging himself in computer science, after seeing an experienced bell ringer manages two ropes at the same time, Tom once attempted to the same feat when he was 18 -- and made a complete hash of it.
“It was filmed and it’s just this petrified look on my face when one of the ropes disappeared from my hands and everyone laughed,” He remembered with a smile, “it was a ‘you’ve been framed at that moment’.”
Originally from South London, as a freshman, he came up to the North alone. Without knowing anyone, he was once isolated himself from the outside.
“Bell ringing gives me a second family”, he said.
To him, his hobby was brought him a lovely community in which he can gain a lot of social life other than a religious activity.
“I know a lot of bell ringers would love me to say it’s all about religion. It’s still a community. If you are able to come to ring without having the obligations to attend the church service and participate in that side, it would help create more bell ringers. I want it to be more social.”
As a student who is passionate on bell ringing, he never hesitates to contribute himself to the things he loves.
He once tried to establish a bell ringing society in Newcastle University but only found one fellow enthusiast con campus.
“You need at least 15 people to be a registered society,” he smiled helplessly. “There are around 7000 bell ringing churches in the world, 5000 are in the UK. It’s quite a big part of British culture and it’s not something people really know about.”
He first noticed this when he visited France and found very few churches have bells.
When we talk about whether bell ringing is dying, he still looks positively.
“I hope not, at least in the North East where I ring,” he smiled, “we are building not dwindling.”
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Tom Helyer and his bell ringing