Bell ringing pals’ 81-year age gap
THE country’s youngest bell ringer is already an old hand at the age of 10 – thanks to help from Britain’s oldest.
Ewan Pearce started at five and practises regularly at St Peter’s, North Tawton, Devon. He stands on a special footstool to reach the rope.
Ewan said: “It started off when I was in my buggy and I heard the bells ringing and I loved it. I’m learning but I’m getting better at it.”
He has been taught by Brian Drake, 91 – thought to be the nation’s oldest bell ringer – and Mervyn Way, 81.
Brian said in 77 years of bell ringing: “I’ve known older men that haven’t been able to ring as well as him.”
Mervyn said with a smile: “He’s a star – because I taught him.”
Ewan’s mum Teresa said he even rang using “little scarves” at home.
BRITAIN’S first astronaut has said aliens definitely exist – and might already live among us.
Dr Helen Sharman, who became the first Briton in space in 1991, said she believes it is possible the aliens are on our planet but are invisible to the human eye.
The 56-year-old went into space after answering a job advert on the radio that said” “Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary.”
The chemist was chosen from 13,000 people who applied to join the privately funded Soviet-British space programme called Project Juno.
After 18 months of intensive training at Star City in Russia, she flew to the Soviet space station Mir aged 27 and spent eight days in space.
Speaking yesterday in an interview, she said: “Aliens exist, there’s no two ways about it. There are so many billions of stars out there in the universe that there must be all sorts of different forms of life.
“Will they be like you and me, made up of carbon and nitrogen? Maybe not.
“It’s possible they’re here right now and we simply can’t see them.”
She also said she didn’t identify herself by her gender, adding: “I’ve never defined myself by my gender, and I continue not to do so. People often describe me as the first British woman in space, but I was actually the first British person.
“It’s telling that we would otherwise assume it was a man.
“When Tim Peake went into space, some people simply forgot about me. A man going first would be the norm, so I’m thrilled that I got to upset that order.”