Thousands Of Jehovah’s Witnesses Gather For Doorbell Convention

AN estimated 2,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses are expected to attend a series of special doorbell conventions taking place between now and the end of the week.

Doorbell enthusiasts of all ages attended the opening day yesterday of the first of the 27 ‘Ding Dong Come Along’ conventions, at the RDS, in Dublin.

The theme of the convention concentrates on proper and polite use of the door bell. About 200 specially trained ringers have been flown in from all over the world to show revellers how its done.

The majority of the Jehovah’s witnesses attending are expected to be virgin door bell users under the age of 18.

“This is a huge step in the life of a witness. Here they will learn how to softly press that bell so as to not agitate the potential listener. This is probably the most important part of being a Jehovah’s Witness.” says Thomas “Rashers” Dunne from Galway, who has been a Jehovah’s Witness for 49 years.

“We all had to go through this at one stage. I remember my first door bell convention like it was yesterday.” he says.

“Of course things were different back then. The bell was a lot harder to press and made a very strong ringing noise indeed. I think there was more of a knack in pushing the older bells. Now they have all this new fancy electronic gadgetry that can be pushed to what ever volume you please. It’s easier now I suppose. But the fun is gone out of door bell pressing. Its a dying trade”

Chairman of the door bell convention, John Parkinson, stated that some witnesses camped outside the RDS over night in order to get in the doors early.

This year the convention organisers also decided to bring in a new ‘door knocker refreshers course’ for the over 55’s.

“It’s been a huge success” said Parkinson.

“There’s plenty of other things to see and do here. About 254 stalls are set up around the arena. We expect about ten thousand people during the course of the week. Most of them would be Jehovah’s witnesses. But over the last 2 years or so we have been getting more and more debt collecting agents attending the show.”