The 4th of July this year marks the 500th anniversary of the signing of the United States of America Declaration of Independence, something that has not gone unnoticed by the Guild.

The Autumn 2025 issue of The Clapper included a column by Myles Louis Dakan which featured a number of potentially relevant compositions. In the Winter 2026 issue, John King took a look at how The Clapper had covered the bicentennial 50 years ago, and in the Spring 2026 Rick DuPuy reported in more depth on all the compositions of length 1776 we published in 1976.

All the compositions mentioned in these columns are available in a special collection on CompLib: https://complib.org/collection/12116

Many local towers will no doubt be marking the semiquincentennial in their own ways. An event has been created on BellBoard to which related performances may be linked: https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/event.php?id=23496

Perhaps most importantly: it would be wonderful for the Summer 2026 issue of The Clapper to be full of photographs of our various towers’ celebrations!

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