For the past 40 years, Westbrook High School math teacher Walter Hayes has heard a ringing sound in his ears.

While this would cause most people to seek help, it’s all part of Hayes’ job as director of the Westbrook High School Bell Ringers, a position he’s held since 1964.

Residents will get the chance to hear Hayes’ students this weekend at the Festival of Trees. The bell ringers will be playing a traditional Christmas concert on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Sitting in his classroom on the second floor of Westbrook High School surrounded by pictures of bell ringers past and present, Hayes said he still enjoys working with the group he helped found over 40 years ago.

The group got started when Hayes was teaching at the Westbrook Junior High School. Phil Kimball, the principal at the time, approached Hayes and asked him to help establish a program that would give athletes some exposure to music. Hayes took on the challenge, but was at a loss as to how to do it.

Inspiration hit him while he was out having dinner with his wife. They went to a place where there was a bell-ringing group from South Portland. After hearing the performance, Hayes, who had no experience ringing bells, went back to Kimball and convinced him to start a bell-ringing group.

It wasn’t easy to get the first set of bells. There were only two places to get the bells the group needed back then, Holland or England. Since the English bells would have taken much longer to arrive, Hayes went with the bells from Holland. It must have been a good choice, since the bells being used by today’s students are the very same bells purchased in 1964.

“They’ve got a real beautiful sound,” said Hayes.

With bells in hand, Hayes and a group of five athletes from the school formed the first bell ringers group, starting a tradition that has moved with Hayes from the junior high to the high school and has been passed down through generations of Westbrook students.

The group has played all across the country and even in Europe during the past four decades. Some of the highlights include playing at Walt Disney World in 1971, the Montreal World’s Fair in 1967, and various spots in England and Ireland. While Hayes remembers all of those concerts fondly, one concert in 1974 sticks out in his mind. That’s when the bell ringers traveled to Vatican City to play for Pope Paul VI.

“That was the most outstanding thing we’ve done,” Hayes said.

While the first group started out with just five members, it has grown slightly over the years and gone from an all-male group to a co-ed one. This year’s group has 10 members, and keeping with the longstanding tradition, they are all members of the high school’s athletic teams.

Anthony Dahms, a senior in his third year with the group, said he loves playing the bells. He got involved with the group at the end of his freshman year, when Hayes asked him to consider joining. “I saw some people that I knew were in it and I thought I’d give it a try,” he said.

Since he had no training playing the bells, Dahms said he just learned to play as he went along. “It’s fun,” he said.

Dahms said he especially enjoys playing at retirement homes in the area. He said the elderly ladies especially enjoy listening to the high school kids. “They really love us,” Dahms said. “Sometimes they even make us cookies.”

With a smile, Hayes said he also loves to watch the reaction the group gets when it plays for senior citizens. “It’s great to have something where we can get out and let people see the kids in the high school are fantastic,” he said.

The group continues to play all around New England, and has recently played in Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace to help ring in the holiday season. With that concert behind them, Hayes said he is looking forward to helping ring in the holidays here in Westbrook this weekend. And even after 40 years, Hayes said he still loves working with the kids, and plans to continue doing it for as long as he can.

“It means the world to me,” he said. “I can’t imagine not doing it.”

The bell ringers will be playing at the Festival of Trees this Saturday (Dec. 2) at the Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church at 2 p.m. For more information, visit www.westbrookwarren.com/festivaloftrees.

Bells-Hayes Westbrook High School math teacher Walter Hayes with some of the bells used by the high school’s bell ringers. The group, which Hayes has directed since 1964, plays this Saturday at the Festival of Trees at the Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church. The Westbrook High School Bell Ringers at a recent holiday concert in Boston. Front row (from left) Adam LaViolette, Megan Cutter, Kevin Lessard, Alex Baillargeon, Anthony Dahms, Joel Parent and Zac Good. Rear (from left) Alex Foster, Jacob LaViolette, Ian Levinsky and Eben Perkins.Bell ringers 2 The Westbrook High School Bell Ringers at a recent holiday concert in Boston.

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