'Bell-ringing is in my blood - it's what we do'

The sound of church bells is a familiar sound to most people on a Sunday morning but for one York family, it has become an integral part of their lives.

"I was taken up the tower from a very early age, so bells have always been in my blood," says David Hull, part of York Minster's 12-strong team of bell-ringers.

"When I was six years old, I started to learn to ring, it was a little bit of a struggle.

"I was quite a small child, I initially had to stand on a chair in order to reach the rope," he recalls.

David, now 57, rings every Sunday morning and Tuesday evening alongside his wife Alison, 57, whom he met whilst bell-ringing.

The couple are joined by their son, 24-year-old Ewan.

Alongside team-mates, they travel around the country's churches and cathedrals to ring different kinds of bells and were recently named as champions in the National 12-bell Striking Contest.

Bell-ringing is something David has done for more than 50 years, after being introduced to it by parents George and Liz.

He says his parents met thanks to the hobby.

"My dad went along to a local church to see what ringing was going on there, and my mum was a ringer there."

Much like his parents, David also started his own family in a similar way.

"I met my wife through ringing, she was a ringer in London at the time and I was a ringer in Birmingham.

"A few years later we got married and along came our two children, both of whom learnt to ring as well."

Son Ewan met his partner, Rachel Mahoney, 24, through bell-ringing at the Ringing World National Youth Contest.

"I think we took [Ewan] up a tower when he was two days old, so he's been immersed in bell-ringing all that time," the proud father says.

David's bell-ringing team are only the third York side to win the contest, which began in 1975.

York previously won in 2002 at Winchester Cathedral and before that in 1999 on home turf at York Minster.

"Home advantage does play a part, we've seen in recent years Exeter, who also have a big ring of bells, like York, they won on their own bells back in 2019," remembers David.

"These are bells we ring once or twice a week, every week."

Despite victory this year, David is most proud of the fact that the sound his team makes on the bells has become synonymous with both York Minster and the city itself.

"Ringing for us is a way of life, it's part of what we do," he smiles.

"It is music that in many cases, hundreds and thousands of people hear because you're ringing the world's loudest unamplified musical instrument and the bells are sounding out across towns and cities."

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