Thousands of Bells to Ring Out on Opening Day of London Olympics 2012

It’s going to be extremely noisy: at 08.12 on 27 July, the first day of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, thousands of people across the UK and even abroad will join together to ring hand bells, bicycle bells, doorbells and other sorts of bells, in one of the highlights of the London 2012 Festival. “Work No. 1197: All the bells in a country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes” is the brainchild of Turner Prize-winning artist and musician Martin Creed. Anyone can take part, whether you are an experienced expert of tower bells, or a child with no experience. Thousands of people have already registered, including many organisations such as the Royal Navy, the RAF, the Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Criers, The Churches Conservation Trust and more. On the island of Tresco, off the Cornish coast, the team at the Tresco Bike Hire Shed will be supplying bicycles for people to travel to the big gathering planned around the Island’s only Church, St Nicholas, on the day of the performance (there are no cars on the island). On the mainland, the landlord of the New Inn, Cornwall, will be welcoming groups of performers for a hearty ringers’ special cooked breakfast – and the bell that will be rung there is a recovered old ship’s bell, hundreds of years old. Among the numerous churches taking part are the 11th century Church of St Catherine of Siena in Cocking, West Sussex with its three bells; and St David’s Cathedral in West Wales – St David’s is Britain’s smallest city - with its 10. In Edinburgh, The Fruitmarket Gallery will be hosting a performance of Work No. 1197 on Creed’s Work No. 1059, the Scotsman Steps - a hand-made marble staircase given to the City of Edinburgh by Martin Creed in 2011. Visitors to The Fruitmarket Gallery on 27 July will be able to choose a step to stand on to ring, after which breakfast will be served in the gallery café. In London the National Theatre will be ringing the giant bell from Opening Ceremony artistic director Danny Boyle’s production of Frankenstein on the Baylis Terrace “in sight and sound of some of the great bells of London”.