Ripon Cathedral welcomes its youngest qualified bell ringer

A teenager has become the youngest bell ringer at a North Yorkshire cathedral after gaining her qualification.

Alice Barrett, 13, started lessons before the pandemic after she became intrigued when her mum signed up as a bell ringer at Ripon Cathedral.

Resuming her lessons at the cathedral in October 2021, she has now been elected a member of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers.

Gaining an official qualification made her feel "accomplished", Alice said.

"It is very different to most other things," she added.

Alice Barrett is now a member of the Yorkshire Association of Change Ringers

Alice's mum, Louise, said she could not have imagined how committed Alice would become to the new hobby.

"I've always lived behind the cathedral and I've always heard the bells and thought I'd love to have a go at that," she said.

Ms Barrett said when she saw an advert on Facebook for new bell ringers, she decided to take the plunge.

"I said that I have a little girl who would like to have a go and they said to bring her along," she added.

As a result, Alice started attending practice, too, and she can now ring the cathedral's bells without any assistance on the ropes.

Alice is Ripon Cathedral's youngest bell ringer

Despite initial nerves about getting the timings correct, Alice said ringing the bells was fine "once you got into it".

She said nowadays she spent Wednesdays practising at the cathedral before ringing the bells at services on Sunday.

Alice said her hobby could be considered by her school friends as "quite weird".

However, she added that it was something she wanted to continue doing "forever".