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Naperville man honored for his ‘change ringing’ bell skills

Naperville’s Tom Farthing said he has been obsessed with the art of change ringing for 40 years.

As a member and official of the North American Guild of Change Ringers, Farthing knows it takes a rare breed to engage in what he calls “an obsession.”

He estimates there are only about 350 change ringers in the United States and Canada so when a young person — especially one from his hometown — shows a keen interest in the skill, Farthing is thrilled.

Naperville resident Sean Lu, a Metea Valley graduate and sophomore at the University of Illinois, is the recipient of the North American Guild of Change Ringers’ Jeff Smith Memorial Young Ringer Award.

While Lu joked that he won it because he’s the only young person ringing, Farthing said there’s a lot more to it than than.

“You have to be 22 or younger, you have to contribute to the local change ringing group and you have to be proficient in the intricate art of change ringing,” he said. “(Sean) did all of that.”

Lu said he was a senior in high school when he got interested in it.

“I heard about it fleetingly and then watched some videos and got more into it,” Lu said. “I also heard some talks on it and how it goes through permutations and how it traverses into a shape.”

So, just what is change ringing?

Well, for starters, it has nothing to do with standing in front of a store during the holidays and ringing a bell for money.

It’s an activity that started in 17th century England when groups of people were needed to ring the bells in church towers. But instead of creating music, change ringers use math to generate a unique sequence of notes using bells.

Ringers still team up in towers, Farthing said, but Lu and those in his group typically use hand bells to create sequences. During the pandemic, they did performances for 40 minutes or longer online, he said.

Isabella Scott holds a sequence sheet on bell ringing as Naperville resident Tom Farthing points out details while practicing change ringing sequences at Mitchell Tower atop the Reynolds Club on the University of Chicago campus in 2021, in Chicago.

That’s something folks in the 1700s never envisioned.

“No way at all,” Farthing said. “It’s been amazing. Within a month of the shutdown, the website started. People with this obsession couldn’t do the thing they loved until the website started.

“Even now, it’s terrific for me and a great opportunity for Sean. There aren’t a lot of wrestlers around. They are few and far between. Now, I’m ringing quite a bit and I can team up with wrestlers from all over the place. I’m not limited. Recently, I was ringing with someone from California and Washington state. I’ve also been able to ring with people from England.”

Farthing said that Lu is off to a great start.

“He picked it up really quick,” he said. “He’s incredibly bright, for sure. He is interested in it. It started for me when I said, ‘Yeah, this is what I want to do, I really like how my brain works when I do this.’ You never know who it’s going to grab like that.

“It grabbed Sean the same way and he took to it really quick.”

Longtime change ringer Tom Farthing, of Naperville, seated far left in the back row, and Sean Lu, lower right, pose with a group of ringers in 2021 at Farthing's home.

Lu said there is no competition or public performances and teamwork is the key in getting through a routine.

“It’s the satisfaction of completing it,” he said. “It’s being able to figure out how something works or how a particular method is structured. That’s pretty satisfying.”

Farthing said that there is no “I can ring better than you” attitude among wrestlers. The goal is to get the formula and sounds right.

He also admits that change ringing events do not lend themselves to a good audience experience.

“I wouldn’t really suggest that anyone go out of their way to listen to change ringing,” he said. “It’s not something where you are going to a concert of change ringing and sit quietly and listen to it. Nobody would do that.

“But it’s great sound floating in the background. It’s just beautiful. It’s ethereal. It’s lovely.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.

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