Although there had been discussions about the idea of forming a Scottish Association of Change Ringers as early as 1899, these did not come to much until an enthusiastic young graduate of Cambridge University, Stephen Wood, settled in Glasgow in 1929. He, together with Edwin Lewis, the future President of the CCCBR, who was then living in Wishaw, brought together the captains of the few ringing towers in Scotland, and the inaugural meeting of SACR took place in June 1932 at St Mary’s Cathedral Edinburgh.
At the time there were only twelve towers with bells hung for change ringing, of which two had no ringers and two were unringable. Nevertheless, and despite the considerable distances involved in attending meetings, the new Society was a success, holding biannual meetings even throughout the Second World War.
Today the Society has two hundred members in twenty-one affiliated towers: Dumfries, the most southerly being 235 miles from the furthest north in Nairn. SACR holds four meetings per year as well as three training weekends, handbell days and an annual striking competition. We are proud to have been able to enter a band in the Ringing World National Youth contest in 2015 and 2016, and after a record peal-ringing year in 2016, expect to complete 1,000 peals by the middle of 2018.
