A PEAL on the 10 bells of St Laurence Church in Stroud is to be rung on Saturday, August 7, in celebration of the town's 700th birthday.

Beginning at 11am, the peal will be rung by a visiting team from all corners of Gloucestershire.

St Laurence is one of only three churches in the county to have 10 bells - the others are at Berkeley and Lydney. Many churches just have six.

Stroud's good fortune may have something to do with a rivalry that existed between it and Painswick in the 18th century. If that's the case, then Painswick won, for the church there boasts 12 bells.

Today, St Laurence's earliest bell dates back to 1713, though the Victorian historian, Paul Hawkins Fisher, mentions that there have been bells there since at least 1629.

While once it would have been common to hear all 10 bells rung each week, the phenomenon is becoming increasingly rare as the numbers of dedicated campanologists drop.

"I came to Stroud in the 1970s, and even in those days we didn't have a 10-bell band," explained the Captain of the Tower, Laurence Hitchins, who has been ringing for 61 years.

"It is a little sad that people aren't coming forward because bell-ringing is a fascinating thing to do."

Mr Hitchins is a member of the prestigious Ancient Society of College Youths, established for campanologists in 1637. But he first started ringing when he was 13 and living in a village in Wiltshire.

Over the years, his interest has taken him to bell towers as far afield as Liverpool and Dublin. And it's also been a great way of socialising - the three friends he started ringing with 61 years ago, are all ringing still.

"I can remember ringing for the end of the Second World War," Mr Hitchins said. "In fact, I rang my first peal on that day. I'll also never forget ringing a peal at Wells Cathedral that took four hours and six minutes; to be able to do that is a bit like running a marathon."

The present team at St Laurence numbers five, though two more are being trained. It takes around three months just to learn physically how to handle the bells and a lot longer to become proficient at the changes.

The peal on August 7 will be rung using the method Grandsire Caters. "There are all sorts of different methods of ringing, such as Yorkshire and Cambridge, which are all permutations and combinations of numbers. You have to carry all these patterns that you ring in your head," Mr Hitchins said.

"If you take eight bells, you can go through over 40,000 different arrangements without a repeat. If you go to 12, you're talking about 479 million arrangements. In fact, you could ring for 37 years without repeating a row of changes."

And if all that sounds appealing, then Mr Hitchins would love people who have an interest to come forward. "The main qualities you need are mental and physical self-discipline, and to be really dedicated," he says.

"For me, bell ringing has led to some wonderful times over the last 60 years."

For more information, contact Laurence Hitchins on 01453 764656.