Association Information
Information and Statistics about the Association
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The Association was established on 13th March 1882.
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It covers the geographical county of Bedfordshire but due to boundary alterations includes the parish of Eaton Socon.
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The Association is split into three broadly equal areas known as Districts, namely the Bedford District, the Biggleswade District and the Luton District.
| District | Number of Members* (2009) | Number of Towers and (Bells) (2010) | |
| Ringable | Unringable | ||
| Bedford | 133 | 34 (219) | 4 (18) |
| Biggleswade | 107 | 22 (146) | 4 (18) |
| Luton | 157 | 27 (183) | 4 (16) |
| Total | 397 | 83 (548) | 12 (52) |
* The number of ringers within the Association's territory is likely to be higher than shown as not all ringers are members. There are an additional 20 ringing members who are not associated with individual Districts, 14 of whom are not county residents.
Rings of Bells (ringable only) updated May 2010
| District | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | Total |
| Bedford | 1 | 1 | 8 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 34 | |
| Biggleswade | 8 | 12 | 2 | 22 | ||||
| Luton | 2 | 7 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 27 | ||
| Total | 3 | 1 | 23 | 42 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 83 |
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The Association has two patrons: the Bishop of St. Albans and the Bishop of Bedford.
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The early ringing centres in the association were Bedford, St. Paul, Woburn, Biggleswade and Leighton Buzzard. These are depicted on the current certificate.
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The Association certificate was designed by Sidney Avis of Woburn in 1902. The original has now been framed and can be viewed in Woburn ringing room.
| Heaviest Tenors in the Association | Lightest Tenors in the Association | ||||
| 1 | Leighton Buzzard | 35-1-14 | 1 | Swineshead | 2-2-7 |
| 2 | Bedford, St Paul | 28-3-06 | 2 | Whipsnade | 3-1-24 |
| 3 | Luton | 25-0-24 | 3 | Kensworth | 3-3-15 |
| 4 | Woburn | 24-1-16 | 4 | Steppingley | 5-0-0 |
| 5 | Dunstable | 23-2-15 | 5 | Bedford, St Andrew | 5-2-22 |
| 6 | Bromham | 22-3-18 | 6 | Clapham | 5-3-20 |