This is usually something done for the Remembrance Sunday Service (usually the Sunday nearest to 11 November), funerals and any other occasion when a more sombre mood is appropriate.

The most widespread practice is to muffle the bells at backstroke, with the muffle fixed to the clapper so that the bell strikes clearly on the handstroke, with the muffled sound following on at backstroke, like an echo. This is known as ‘half muffled’. Traditionally, the muffling of the bells at both handstroke and backstroke is reserved for the death of a monarch (and sometimes the death of an important person in the church).  This is known as ‘fully muffled’.

Ringing on half muffled bells tests your listening skills and your sense of rhythm, as the bells are less audible, and the alternating loud and soft sounds create a different sense of rhythm.

 

Fitting muffles can be more tricky that it appears as you have to understand which is the correct side to fit the muffle on a down bell. Practise this with someone else at a time when you aren’t under pressure, for example, if the service is about to start in half an hour!

Once you’re confident that you can secure the muffle in the right way, and on the correct side, help fit the muffles for a service and tick off another challenge!

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