Bell Ringing at Toronto Cathedral, Canada

I am over the big puddle in Toronto, Ontario, in Canada! I was here on the right day to ring at St James’ Cathedral, on both sets of bells; the change ringing twelve (one of only two in North America) and also the original (albeit strange sounding) Meneely chime of ten. The bass bell of the chime weighs approximately 30cwt and is in Db/C#. All ten were cast by Meneely in 1865 and are now electronically operated.
The ring of twelve bells are a Whitechapel (of various generations and names) ring. The back eight came from Bermondsey in London and were originally a ring of ten. They were removed from Bermondsey in favour of a lighter ring in that tower. The front two of the old ten were recast by Whitechapel in 1997 and augmented to twelve at the same time. The bells were then shipped over to St James' Anglican Cathedral in Toronto, Ontario, and hung in the tower below the present Meneely chime of ten. They are rung regularly by the local band which comprises of a number of British expats! I hope to move to Toronto in a few years time, so I aspire to ring here when I do! I would recommend these bells to anybody who is in the area. They go well, sound lovely and are rung by one of the most friendly bands I have ever met.
A massive thanks to the local ringers for their kind welcome!

[@gondolacrescent5]

I remember seeing the peel of bells in action twenty years ago…and then climbing higher within the tower to see the 10 stationary bells…., higher still to see the clocks and eventually all the way to the interior tip of the steeple….what a thrill that was. St. James’ Cathedral is -overall- my favourite church building in Canada.

[@Mr_SaltyChip]

Whoever is saying the Look 2 is definitely a deep opera singer.

[@wolfgangsbrother6118]

Oh my god that’s in my province😮

[@Mr_SaltyChip]

Jake, you are slowly becoming an adult already! i remember your Ginger hair xD

[@RingerJake]

I never had ginger hair.

[@Mr_SaltyChip]

@@RingerJake I saw in one of your ringing down videos. You were on the tenor. Here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWGtondpi7B0e5o Oh i just realised, I thought it was ginger. OofFFFFFFFFFFFF

[@RingerJake]

I used to be peroxide blonde (genes from my mother’s side and Danish ancestry) but my father’s genes took over when I was about 14 and slowly darkened my hair to the current brown it is now.

[@Mr_SaltyChip]

@HarryBellringer I know Jake told me.

[@RingerJake]

Hah. It's definitely brown. I may be part Irish and have a surname that references either red hair or a red complexion but I lack the red hair that goes with it. ;P

[@TheConsettonian1987]

They sound more like D major than C#

[@RingerJake]

The twelve are but the chime of ten are in Db/C#.

[@TheConsettonian1987]

Ringer Jake I didn’t realise there are extra 10 bells hung for chiming alongside the ring of 12.

[@RingerJake]

@@TheConsettonian1987 The chime of ten was the first clip shown on this video at 25 seconds in. :P

[@KempBrinson]

Welcome to North America! Are you ringing anywhere else?

[@RingerJake]

Thank you! No, unfortunately not - I’d have loved to though. Canada is really rather sparse for change ringing.

[@Mr_SaltyChip]

@@RingerJake America has around 14 change ringing towers as I found out from a Ringing tour there on a video.

[@RingerJake]

America has over 50. Canada has 7.