At 21.55?
That’s 9.55 am.
Is the pope dead?
Not that I can find, maybe they’re just practicing 
Maybe it has something to do with Holy Saturday?
shrug Beats me. The bells over at University College (stone’s throw away) aren’t ringing.
Perhaps there’ s a funeral going on?
It’s the churches emergency broadcast system.
This is a test of the Second Coming Broadcast System. This is only a test. Had Jesus actually appeared, you would have been alerted to start praying. Again, this is only a test.
Mind if a former Change Ringer answers? First, it could be extra practice for today, Easter Sunday. Second, it could be there’s some sort of service they were asked to ring for, aka the oldest excuse in the book – “The priest asked us to.” Third, there could be a wedding they were asked to ring for today, although getting married in a church on Holy Saturday sounds odd to me and I can’t think of one which would do it. Perhaps the bells were being run at an Orthodox church which doesn’t celebrate Easter today?
Anyway, those are my WAGs.
CJ
Oh, man, Siege, that’s so cool. I read a book once about change ringers. A ‘golden age’ who-dunnit by Dorothy Sayers. It’s called ‘The Nine Taylors’ and I highly recommend it. Awesome literature, awesome setting, awesome who-didit. If you want, you can borrow it. I need it back, though. It’s rare. [or maybe there are new editions available?]
And as usual I made a mistake with the time again. I meant 9:55 PM *[I really wish you guys used the 24 hours time too*] 
So…Why church-bells were ringing near 10 at night? I love the change ringing practise solution. Wouldn’t the neighbors object, though?
(That’s 9.55 pm)
I assume it’s the end of Holy Saturday mass. Our church (or the one I used to go to before I’ve lapsed on my Catholicism) used to have a two-hour mass starting at around 20.00 and ending at your time. At the end, I’m pretty sure they rang bells to celebrate.
Well our Easter Vigil Mass last night started at 7pm-ish and was out around 9:15pm and the bells were ringing then.
I’m guessing the church near you had their service start at 8pm and it was getting over just before 10pm. Hence the bells.
[Vyvyan]
Shut up, you bastards!
[/Vyvyan]
maybe…
Hells Bells
???
How does that tie in to us here in the USA (GMT-5). Last night at 10PM they went nuts.
Some sort of easter thing they don’t tell Jews about? The Catholic church is half a block away. I swear I thought the Nazi’s were invading.
Well, you could always use the number 14-St. Joseph-the-somewhat-divine-on-the-hill ballistic missile.
I heard it automatically homes on the nearest place of worship, ideal for terminating religious turmoil.
The biggest Easter celebration is actually Saturday night. I’m sure it was the end of the Easter Vigil mass.
GT
Though in that case you’d figure people would have noticed and made the connection, by now…
Oh, yes! I was a Lord Peter Wimsey fan long before and after I took up change ringing and I’ve got a copy of The Nine Tailors around here somewhere.
My money’s also on the bells being rung to mark the beginning or end of an Easter Vigil service. I don’t think it was the Anglicans, though. As far as I know, we don’t have a lot of members in the Netherlands. 
CJ
My guess is that either 1) the posters are new to their areas or 2) there was a change at the church (maybe a new pastor who is more enthusiastic than the previous one).
GT
Oh, thank you so much for reminding me of that! I really needed a good laugh today.
I’ve always thought it would be fun to respond to loud, obnoxious church bells by cranking my guitar amp and playing the intro to AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells. Unfortunately, the opportunity just doesn’t present itself all that often in real life. I guess I’ll have to write it into a movie script or something. Or, just post about it on the SDMB. Heh…
Careful - the Grammar Nazis might come for you in your sleep after that one.