Luke Jerram’s ‘Museum of the Moon’ has been on display in various church buildings around the country. During February it was the turn of Exeter Cathedral to host the art installation.

At the point of writing several thousand visitors had been in the Cathedral to see the display since it was first installed.Museum of the Moon consists of a 7m diameter ‘balloon’ which features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. It hangs from the Cathedral nave spanning almost the full width and sitting about 4m above the ground at the bottom. At an approximate scale of 1;500,000, each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture represents 5km of the moon’s surface. This means the exhibit really comes into its own at nighttime as the Cathedral is lit internally with blue lighting. A soundscape is also played with simulated moon sounds to create ambience.

To promote bellringing the Cathedral bellringers suggested we perform a handbell peal in the nave whilst the evening session for visitors was taking place. On Monday 21st February four members of the Exeter Cathedral Society (Ian Campbell, Oliver Coldrick, Matthew Hilling and David Hird) met up in the nave at 6pm to prepare to ring a peal of 5088 Kent Treble Bob Major. As we prepared, we were informed that over 600 tickets had been sold for entry that evening. Gulp!

A cordoned area had been created at the crossing for us to sit in a circle and various notices were placed around to inform visitors about our performance and requested for us not to be disturbed. By 6.20pm we were seated, and the peal began as visitors began entering the Cathedral. At first, with few visitors, there was little background disturbance and the peal quickly settled down into a good rhythm but about half an hour in, there were hundreds of visitors, and the background noise meant our ringing was not so easy to hear which required very high levels of concentration. At times it seemed like there were a large number of curious visitors all around us. Fortunately, our stewards from the Cathedral Society kept them under control whilst explaining what we were doing. The cordon was only a couple of feet behind us all but thankfully no one tried to talk to us or reach out. Many visitors took photos or videos, most having not witnessed or heard change ringing on handbells previously.

Sue Sparling, one of the stewards, said “Everyone I spoke to really enjoyed the sound of the handbells. They liked the combination of the moon, the evening lighting in the Cathedral and the sound of the handbells. Many commented that the sound of the handbell ringing enhanced the whole experience and one person commented that the handbell ringing was ‘the best part of the visit’. One young woman stood listening for ages.”

Another steward, Peter Brown, said “I believe lots of people were quite mesmerised by the ringing. It was an excellent opportunity to promote bellringing. I engaged with one couple early on who had obviously read the Cathedral newsletter advertising the ringing and attended specially to see and hear the ringers in action.”

The large circle of observers kept up for nearly all the peal and only began to reduce in the last few minutes of ringing. The peal was successfully completed in 2 hours and 20 minutes just before the Cathedral began closing its doors. It was a great performance given the surrounding distractions and was a good standard throughout. The art of bell ringing has now been shared with many more people.

David Hird
Exeter Cathedral