A SOUTH Lakeland bell ringer celebrated two milestones as he rang his 2,250th peal, almost 50 years to the day since his first.

Kevin Price, of Crook, assembled seven of his fellow ringers for the event at St Michael and All Angels Parish Church, Hawkshead, on Friday.

The non-stop peal, which lasted just under three hours, marked five decades since Mr Price rang his first peal as a schoolboy, in the same Hawkshead church.

Since then Mr Price has rung peals in more than 1,000 towers up and down the country, with more than 1,100 ringers.

A 'peal' in this context consists of at least 5,000 'changes' and lasts around three hours.

“I started ringing originally as a choirboy at St Martin’s in Bowness at the age of 11, but it took me about a year to get to peal standard,” said Mr Price.

Peals are often rung nationally for special occasions, such as the Queen becoming the country’s longest reigning monarch, for which Mr Price was invited to ring in Shropshire.

He counts one of his most memorable trips as finally having the chance to ring a peal at Lincoln Cathedral.

“It’s very prestigious and a rare opportunity because they limit the number of full peals, so I’d been on the waiting list for many years,” explained Mr Price.

“They ring one every year for their Christmas market but they found themselves short two days beforehand, and they called me because they knew I’d move heaven and earth to be there.

“The thing I enjoy about bell ringing is all the friends you make over the years from travelling to different places.”

For his 50th anniversary peal, Mr Price was joined by the Rev Martin Daniels, of Blackburn, with whom he has rung 970 peals, Andrew and Jane Holland of Egremont, Andrew Gordon of Wellington, Tom Metcalfe, of Kirkby in Furness, Nick Newby, of Keswick, and Christine de Cordova, of Cleator Moor.

“It was a doubly personal and special occasion for me and it went very well,” he said.