Although there had been an active band in Talaton, by 2011 it had disappeared and the tower was silent.  With the Jubilee looming in 2012, a group of people decided they ought to learn to ring so that they could ring in the Jubilee celebrations.  Little did they know how long it would take for them to become proficient enough. A local ringer began to instruct them in the basics of bellhandling, though by the time I became involved late in 2011 they had made very little progress.   However, they were keen to learn, and although two of them soon left, deciding ringing was not for them, there remained a small group who were soon supplemented by two eleven year olds, giving us a band of five.With one of them frequently enjoying her new retirement by going on holidays for some weeks, and one of the youngsters missing the occasional practice because of other events in his life, progress was still rathere slow, but progress there definitely was, and the bells were rung, albeit for a short time, and with rather erratic striking at times for the Jubilee. 

Just before the Harvest Festival later that year, some very creditable rounds were achieved, with one or two experienced people in the band as well.  Unfortunately, for some inexplicable reason, the ringing for the service itself was not as good, resulting in some rather downcast looks.

Since then the band has gradually improved, in spite of there ever only being one or two expereinced people to ring with them, and they eventually became confident enough to enter a team, including two guest ringers in the East Devon Striking Competition in July 2014.

With all of them being too busy to go to other towers in the district on other nights of the week things are not going to move ahead too fast, though they are beginning to master the principles of Plain Hunt, and they are looking forward to  moving up from the bottom position in the competition in July 2015

Richard Coley