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In the belfry above a darkened church, a group of people are milling around.

As dusk gathers over Pembroke, they step up to the eight ropes threaded through holes in the ceiling. Acting tower master Eldon Linguard gives the order and arms swing up, ropes tighten and a descending scale of chimes cascades over this Pembrokeshire town. The bellringers of St Mary's Church have started their evening's practice.

For centuries, these bells have announced church services, celebrated weddings and tolled deaths.

To the uninitiated onlooker, campanology looks like a bit of simple rope pulling. Spend just ten minutes in the belfry with the ringers and it is obvious that it requires skills of co-ordination, intense concentration and mental and physical effort.

The ringers have to memorise every 'course' because, unlike a musician in an orchestra, they don't have the benefit of having the music in front of them.

Acting tower captain Eldon Linguard started ringing when he was 13 and a boy scout. There was a scout badge to be had for bell ringing. Boy scouts will know that badges take an average of six weeks to achieve, but it was two years before Eldon was awarded his bellringing badge.

"It is much more difficult than it looks," he says. "You have to be able to control the bell and there is also a fair bit of mathematics involved."

Good co-ordination is a key, he says. "You have to be able to feel the bell, to make it do what you want it to do."

It's very physical too, although much easier than in days gone by. Modern day campanologists have the benefit of roller-bearings which make it much easier for them to pull the bells. Their predecessors had to pull from fixed bearings, which is why bellringers were always men, and not necessarily church-goers.

"They used to have a few glasses of beers in the belfry because it was hard going,'' explains Eldon. "The bearings were changed in 1890 and it is much easier now which is why there are more women among us these days."

The eight bells at St Mary's Church range in weight up to the big tenor at 12-hundredweight, roughly the weight of a large motorbike. They are made of bell metal and were recast for Queen Victoria's Jubilee.

Each bell is attached to a wheel and the ropes are wound over those wheels. When the wheels begin to turn they pull the bells over and the clappers strike the metal, releasing a sound.

At St Mary's, there is a hard core of 11 ringers who meet on a Tuesday to practise and a Sunday morning to call the congregation to worship.

Although the average age of these bell ringers is at the upper end, it is a hobby which is very popular among students in university towns.

This can be a disadvantage during holiday periods when the students disperse.

"The towers in Aberystwyth have a lot of students which are very good, but they can only be there during term time," says Eldon.

One of the younger members at St Mary's is Anne Bunker, a marine biologist who works for the Countryside Council for Wales.

Like Eldon, she started ringing when she was 13. She was encouraged to learn because her local tower in Somerset didn't have many young people. "My sister and I were invited to the belfry to look at the bells and decided that we would learn. I have been playing ever since."

She enjoys playing anything that is a bit challenging, Cambridge being her personal favourite.

To the onlooker, it all looks challenging. The ringers have lines and numbers to guide them through and these have to be memorised because it is impossible, in a circle of ringers, to have music in front of them.

"There are about 50 different methods to remember,'' Eldon explains.

"Sometimes it all goes wrong and we make a bit of a din."

But not so on this occasion. The ringers have done their homework and as they end the evening's practice with the classic, Plain Bob Doubles, they are note perfect.

4:14pm Monday 3rd December 2007

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