Bells Will Be Ringing For London Games Opening Ceremony

With one week to go the opening of the London 2012 Olympic Games, millions of people across the UK are preparing to join in a day of celebrations on Friday the 27 July. The day will commence with bells ringing across the UK at 8.12am for 3 minutes as quickly and loudly as possible as part of the London 2012 Festival commission 'All The Bells' by Turner Prize winning artist Martin Creed.  Thousands of people have already registered and the performance has captured the imagination of organisations including The Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, The British Army, The RAF, the National Trust, The Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Criers, the National Theatre, the Church of England, the Arts Council and Creative Scotland, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, The National Football Museum, The Sports Heritage Network, Discovering Places, The Churches  Conservation Trust, the Mayor of London, the Archbishop of Westminster, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Open Morris, The British Federation of Youth Marching Band Organisations, The Girl Guides Association, The Royal British Legion, the Women’s Institute and many more.

The event will be broadcast by the BBC to a potential live audience of over 10 million people across the UK on TV, radio and online - including BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 2 Chris Evans Breakfast Show and BBC local radio stations. Anyone can take part by ringing any kind of bell for three minutes - from experienced change ringing experts of tower bells to enthusiastic children with hand bells, bicycle bells and doorbells.

London 2012 has announced that from today subscribers to the latest update of the free official London 2012 Join In App will be able to tap or shake their phone like a hand bell to release the Martin Creed bell sequence. This will allow users to join in with the event whether they are on the way to work or at home. Information about how to get the latest update of the Join In App is available at . To get involved in ‘All The Bells’ all individuals, communities and organizations are encouraged to register at www.allthebells.com and register their interest in taking part on the day, register their own bell-ringing event for others to join, and even download the Martin Creed ringtone for free.