Church bells ring out for Bingley market charter celebrations (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Church bells ring out for Bingley market charter celebrations

10:49am Saturday 19th May 2012 in Aire Valley By Michael Black

A peal of church bells will ring out in Bingley tomorrow to mark the 800th anniversary of the town being granted its right to hold a market.

The bell ringers of All Saints Church will celebrate the milestone of Bingley being granted its market charter with a quarter peal of bells at 9.30am, before Sunday service.

As reported in the Telegraph & Argus, businesses in Bingley were left “disappointed” after Bradford Council confirmed it could not afford the cost of a public celebration for the anniversary of its market charter.

Solna Burnham, the quarter peal organisers for the ringers, said: “We presumed that there would be a lot of things going on for the 800th anniversary. But of all the people we spoke to in the Council and the market department, half of them didn’t know about it and about half showed some interest but didn’t want to do anything. We thought it is something that really should be marked.”

Bingley was the first town in the district to be granted market charter status in 1212 by King John. Mrs Burnham said: “We think that, when the market charter was first granted, the traders were in the church grounds before they moved into the town centre.”