THE bells will be ringing out from Tavistock's St Eustachius Church this Saturday, October 1 when at least ten bellringing teams from around Devon will be taking part in a competition.

The South Devon eight-bell ringing competition is held annually by the Devon Association of Call-Change Ringers. Beginning at 2.30pm, each team will ring the same 'peal' of Devon call-changes, with a short break between each for the changeover, and a half-hour break at 5pm for a service in the church. Ringing is expected to end between 8.30pm and 9pm.

The peal to be rung is known as the Queen's Peal, 'Queen's' referring to the sequence of 13572468, which will be heard shortly after the change from 'rounds' (12345678) and again towards the end as the bells come back to their original sequence.

The three judges will be secreted in a room not far from the church, and will not know which team is ringing at any time. The results will be declared in the church soon after the competition ends.

Although the 'home team' cannot compete, Tavistock ringers are looking forward to hosting this competition for the first time since the mid-1980s and will be serving refreshments to competitors during the afternoon.

Anyone who wants to hear some highly-skilled, first-class call-change ringing or to know more about ringing in general, is welcome to come along.