Church Bells

The sound of Sunday church bells in Britain is fading. A survey published Sunday showed that a third of the nation's church bells do not peal on the Sabbath because modern distractions have taken a toll among those trained to ring them. About 400,000 Britons know the ropes of bell-ringing but only 40,000 still pull them, said the study commissioned by the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers.

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Exactly one week ago, a gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing 20 children and six adults. On Friday, this grief-wrenched town and the nation stopped to commemorate the precise moment of the attack that has shaken a country to its core. To the sound of tolling bells, 26 mournful peals, officials gathered in the cold and wet to remember the tragedy. Outside Town Hall, Newtown residents and visitors huddled next to local and state officials and police as church bells began sounding.

When Victor Winchester's 94-year-old wife, Adeline, died last year, he and his daughter donated church bells in her memory to St. Martha's Episcopal Church, which the couple had attended since 1963. The bells ring several times each weekday for the West Covina church's day school, twice on Saturdays and five times on Sundays, typically with three-minute hymns, beginning at 8 a.m. But the chimes aren't music to the ears of at least one neighbor. John R.

LONDON - Britain was alive with the sound of bells at 8:12 this morning to signify the first day of the 2012 Olympic Games. Church bells, cow bells, hand bells, Big Ben, bicycle bells, doorbells; bells on Morris Dancers, Bangladeshi girls and ships -- all rang as quickly and loudly as possible for three minutes as part of Martin Creed's artwork for the Olympics: "Work No 1197, All the Bells in a Country Rung as Quickly and Loudly as Possible for...

Church bells here and across the nation rang for five minutes Wednesday night to denounce the recent rash of church bombings and burnings and affirm the right to worship without fear. More than 325 parishioners and church elders from more than 10 Orange County churches gathered for a ringing of hand-held bells followed by a procession and prayer service at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church.

My father used to eat sardines, bones and all and packed in oil, out of a can, which appalled me as a little girl. When I was older, I saw perfectly civilized people eating whitebait, or English sardines, in pubs near the water, and consuming enticing plates of tiny fried fish prepared in excellent Italian kitchens around Rome. Still, I thought sardines lowly and avoided them until one sunny spring day in Douarnenez, France. Even without the sardine epiphany I will remember the breezy, colorful town because of its enchanting name, pronounced doo-are-nay-nay . It's on a steep little peninsula on the Atlantic coast of France, and it looks over the Douarnenez Bay and the islet of Tristan, a setting for the medieval romance "Tristan and Iseult," according to Breton legend.

Texans celebrated the 150th year of independence from Mexico with the ringing of church bells and simultaneous fireworks displays in 10 cities. The two-day birthday bash was led by the official state observance at San Jacinto Battleground State Park, east of Houston. It was at that site that Texas troops led by Sam Houston defeated Mexican Gen. Lopez de Santa Anna on April 21, 1836, and won Texas' independence.

Church bells in a tiny Italian hamlet rang for hours today to celebrate the birth of the first child in the community in 15 years. Baby Francesco was born to the only young couple remaining in this isolated northwest Italian mountain hamlet where 90% of the 34-strong community are over 60. Most families started leaving the village in the 1960s to find work in the big cities of Genoa and Massa.

GENOA, Italy--A Roman Catholic priest has promised to cut back on the number of times he rings the church bells after a parishioner called in her lawyer to complain. Sonia Sander, who lives near the church, said the priest ignored her repeated complaints that the bells at Santa Maria Immacolata kept her awake at night. The volume of the ringing was measured at 80 decibels, well above the legal limit of 30, Sander's lawyer, Laura Buffa, said. Buffa and the Rev.

In response to Al Martinez's column "Honey Don't Eat No Flesh," Nov. 24: In detailing the wide variety of things people find annoying these days--from smoking to wearing fur to loud church bells--as well as the lengths some go to express their displeasure, Martinez missed one shocking incident reported in The Times only the day before ("Ribald Rockabilly Singer Shot to Death in Park"). A man, who regularly feeds pigeons in Golden Gate Park and has a dislike for dogs that might frighten the birds, shot and killed another man walking his dog nearby.

LONDON - Every street, alley and grassy knoll here will be alive with a cacophony of ringing bells - church bells, bike bells, doorbells and a ringing-bell app downloaded to smartphones. Or at least that's the plan behind "All the Bells: Work No. 1197," a massive interactive performance art project created by artist Martin Creed to mark the start of the London Olympic Games on July 27. "All the Bells" is one of 12,000 cultural events unfurled across Britain to celebrate the Games.

Fat Tuesday is better known in some parts of the world as Pancake Day. As we prepare to mark the official end of Mardi Gras 2012 with some King Cake -- while preparing for Lent, of course -- it's worth taking a look at what just might be the most charming part of Carnival season. Mardi Gras finishes off the season with a frenzied celebration of hedonistic carnal excesses: booze, partying and rich and fatty foods to name but a few. It's a way to get everything in before Lent, the traditional 40-day period set aside for self-sacrifice. That period leads up  to the single most important day on the Christian calendar, Easter.

Craig Phillips was barely beyond toddling when he asked his mother to take him to the organ loft at their Baptist church in Nashville. "I was fascinated by the sheer size and power you have at your fingertips," Phillips said of the immense Schantz pipe instrument. Since then, he has pulled out all the stops on a career devoted to music. This week the American Guild of Organists bestows on Phillips, music director and organist at All Saints' Church in Beverly Hills, its distinguished composer award for 2012.

We have a love/hate relationship with Christmas carols. By the time Thanksgiving has rolled past, the limp versions favored by malls and their ilk have sucked the life out of even the best of them. But of course in the right hands, these evergreens can be full of energy and good cheer. Only grinches could hate on a candlelit chorus of "Silent Night" or a choir, brass and organ rendering of "Adeste Fideles. " Several big caroling concerts are coming to town. Non-singers may enjoy the Los Angeles Master Chorale's Festival of Carols, while those who like to belt out a tune or 10 will find the Holiday Sing-Along at Disney Hall just the ticket.

My father used to eat sardines, bones and all and packed in oil, out of a can, which appalled me as a little girl. When I was older, I saw perfectly civilized people eating whitebait, or English sardines, in pubs near the water, and consuming enticing plates of tiny fried fish prepared in excellent Italian kitchens around Rome. Still, I thought sardines lowly and avoided them until one sunny spring day in Douarnenez, France. Even without the sardine epiphany I will remember the breezy, colorful town because of its enchanting name, pronounced doo-are-nay-nay . It's on a steep little peninsula on the Atlantic coast of France, and it looks over the Douarnenez Bay and the islet of Tristan, a setting for the medieval romance "Tristan and Iseult," according to Breton legend.

After nearly 20 years on an impersonal commercial strip, the Cathedral of Christ the King moved to a quiet residential neighborhood in the northwestern edge of this metropolis. Church leaders were eager to be part of a community. Then, on Palm Sunday 2008, they started ringing the church bells every half hour during the day. The complaints soon began, so church leaders cut back the tolling to once per hour. They put up Styrofoam to muffle the sound.

Cannons boomed and church bells tolled Sunday for the 129 men who died a quarter of a century ago aboard the Thresher in the nation's worst submarine disaster. A memorial service at 275-year-old North Church drew more than 800 relatives of the men who died aboard the Thresher and people associated with the nearby Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

CLARKSBURG, Md. -- Historian James Heintze can tick off colorful accounts of how the nation has celebrated the Fourth of July over the years. In the 19th century, canons fired, church bells sounded and fireworks exploded. Indianapolis residents watched in 1911 as two trains purposely collided at full speed, the locomotive personnel bailing out before the crash. The gray-haired academic has chronicled just about everything there is to know about commemorating the birth of the United States.

"I'm not a Minimalist," the keyboard performance artist Charlemagne Palestine said last week. "I'm a maximalist. That's the word I like, because it gives me possibilities." Palestine, known in music circles for his marathon all-night concerts in the 1970s (they were often so intense that he bled on the keys) is returning to the Los Angeles stage tonight after an 11-year absence. As part of the Monday Evening Concerts series, he will perform one of his seminal works, "Schlingen-Blangen," on one of the world's largest church pipe organs at the First Congregational Church.

CLARKSBURG, Md. -- Historian James Heintze can tick off colorful accounts of how the nation has celebrated the Fourth of July over the years. In the 19th century, canons fired, church bells sounded and fireworks exploded. Indianapolis residents watched in 1911 as two trains purposely collided at full speed, the locomotive personnel bailing out before the crash. The gray-haired academic has chronicled just about everything there is to know about commemorating the birth of the United States.