Murphy Cup results

1999

FAULTS

1st

Holy Trinity Drumbo

25 

2nd

Mt. St. Alphonsus

50 

3rd.

St. Finbarre`s Cork

65 

4th

St. Malachi Hillsborough

90 

5th

St. Mary`s Limerick

 100

LIMERlCK LEADER

SATURDAY 13 NOVEMEBER 1999

Limerick bellringers help toll the record book changes

By JIMMY WOULFE

LOTS of Limerick pull helped swing the bells of Christ Church, Dublin, into a record peal on Sunday. Two city bell ringers, Gerry O'Shea and Michael Pomeroy, Castletroy, were among 19 campanologists who took part in a world record ring of 19 bells. The number of bells ranging from treble to tenor was increased recently to 19 and on Sunday they all rang together for the first time, creating a new record. Said Mr Pomeroy, a lecturer at UL who rings at St Mary's Cathedral and the Redemptorist church: "Gerry and I decided to travel to Dublin and take part. There had been 12 bells in the Christ Church belfry and they recently added seven more. The previous largest number of bells to ring together was 16. " While Christ Church may have the biggest peal, Michael who is ringing master of the Irish Association of Change Ringers, is in no doubt which has the best sound, "I have rang bells in 800 towers and I maintain that the Redemptorist's bells must be among the best in the world. They are easy to ring. It must be the way they were erected and the way they were framed and the design of the tower," he said. The 10 bronze bells in the Redemptorist church belfry were put in place in 1949 and they are of varying weights, up to a ton.There are eight bells in the St Mary's Cathedral belfry and these weigh between a quarter of a ton and a ton and a quarter.At present there are 25 campanologists in Limerick who ring at St Mary's and the Redemptorists each Sunday. Michael Pomeroy started bellringing in Somerset in England when he was 11 years of age. "We are at St Mary's each Sunday from 10.45am to 11.15am and at the Redemptorists from 11.15arn to midday," said Michael. There is a worry about the lack of interest in the skill among young people. It takes about.18 months of training to get a new ringer into the swing of things.

Article taken from the Limerick Leader