Westbury boy becomes one of the youngest bell-ringers in the country

A WESTBURY boy is now a member of Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers, making him one of the youngest ringers in the country!

Daniel Best, a Year 5 pupil at Bitham Brook Primary School, first started ringing church bells in September of last year and he was recently presented with a certificate accepting him into the Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers. 

Daniel’s father, Nick, says that Daniel got into the hobby following a chance meeting with bell ringers at Holt’s St Katharine’s Church. 

“Daniel has had a fascination with churches from a very young age and it was on a visit to St Katharine’s Church where we had a chance meeting with someone from the church who encouraged him to get involved,” he explained. “After being taken under the wing of tower captain Martin Moyes, and the rest of the Holt bell-ringing team, Daniel has had weekly lessons, and has been able to ring for The King’s Coronation as well as a wedding service. 

“He has got to be one of the youngest ringers in the country as we looked at the Guinness World Records and saw that the youngest ringer was eight and a half and Daniel is nine and a half so it’s quite impressive that he’s now part of the guild.  

“I’m so proud of him and he really enjoys it so I’m just glad we can support him with this. It was a great surprise and honour for Daniel to be elected to the guild and I am really happy for him. Daniel tried to get involved with ringing bells in Westbury, but he found that the bells were too heavy for him to handle there compared to the ones at St Katharine’s.”