Chester Diocesan Guild of Church Bell-Ringers Chester Branch Friday, 30 January 2015 Here is my second Newsletter, which comes to you with some news, reminders about Branch events and advanced notice of things happening in the wider world of bell ringing. First of all, as promised earlier, something on which to reflect (from Doubles or Quit, by Karl grave; published by the Whiting Society): 1
This was, of course, the theme of the first Branch Workshop held at Backford. As I said then, call changes definitely have their place, and not just in the West Country. For decent Sunday or wedding ringing they are very useful and always preferable to poorly struck changes. They are, however, of very little use in the development of change ringing. Calling the changes by positions is of much more value. To get 123546 from rounds by calling, say, '4ths with 5ths' (i.e. getting the bells in 4th and 5th places to swap places) is more useful than calling '4 to 5' or '5 to 3'. Calling '3rds with 4ths' to produce 125346 is now more interesting - and trickier - for bell number 5. Calling changes in the traditional way can be 'nice and easy', but for a practice night something more can be attempted. It might be challenging but the rewards are infinitely better than ringing nothing but changes called traditionally by bell number. The pages below, from a very good book by Anthony Bishop called Plain Bob Minor - a Mine of Information (Whiting Society), give you more information. I do urge you all to incorporate it into your practices, where appropriate. 2
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I think Mr Bishop is somewhat extreme in his views and I am not entirely in agreement with him; but essentially he is correct in saying that this style of calling changes is a much better foundation for the skills required for change ringing than changes called by bell number. 1. Branch Events Apart from the Backford Workshop, which was a successful one, I believe, we have already held one Advanced Practice, which had much that is familiar. Regular attenders have promised to learn Cooktown Orchid Delight for next time (16th February at Eccleston). The first of the four Open Ringing sessions at the Cathedral - on Sunday 18th January - went very well. Nothing too ambitious but I was very pleased by the attendance. Many thanks to all who were there. Not every one of the designated towers was represented, but it is not essential to stick religiously to your allocated date. We had good support from Tarporley ringers, who are 'officially' scheduled to come in October, but who - it goes without saying - were very welcome. We did ring traditional call changes - and on such an occasion they would be entirely appropriate. The next session is on Sunday 19th April (from 2.15 to 3.25 p.m.), when ringers from Backford, Christleton, Dodleston and Handbridge have been specifically invited, along with any other ringers in the Chester Branch. The next major event will be our first Quarterly Meeting of the year on Saturday 7th February at Tarporley. It is a traditional one with ringing in the afternoon, service, tea and business meeting, plus more ringing. I shall not repeat what I said in my piece called 'Whither the Chester Branch?', but merely say all are welcome and all tastes will be catered for. There is a need for the Branch to come together regularly and to provide members with an opportunity to express their opinions, and to hear a little more about what is going on in our Branch and in the Guild. The Committee will look at the pattern of meetings and doubts have been expressed about the necessity to have four business meetings. We can stick to them for now but it is surely not necessary to spend any more time away from ringing than absolutely necessary. You will receive a separate notice very soon, and our Secretary will be sending you Minutes of the last meeting and an Agenda. I mentioned in the last Newsletter that I wanted to hold a meeting with at least one representative per tower early in the year. The date is not confirmed yet, but should be on Saturday 14th March (morning) at Waverton. 2. George Price (Tilston) George died last year, but I wanted to share with you the lovely obituary written by Revd Jane Stephenson. It will appear in the Annual Report. George Nickson Price, Captain of the Tower at St Mary s, Tilston died on 22 nd August 2014. Many feel the sorrow of George s passing and it has been strange to ring the bells for some major occasions without George there, especially during this recent Christmas period. He is much missed. 5
George was connected with St Mary s all his life: an ex- Church Warden and long-standing choir member with a lovely singing voice: he still read and chaliced. Above all, George rang bells there for over 60 years. He was drawn into the church by his family: his grandfather sang in the choir, mother played the organ, his father, George (Senior) and uncle, John were bell ringers. When George was about 13 Uncle John ( the Tower Captain) offered to teach him to ring, just as he had taught his own son, Raymond, George s cousin. George, rather small in stature had to stand on a box to learn his craft. A box which is still in the tower for others to reach upwards! Bell ringing, in the male line, was a family affair and both George (Snr.) and John are named on boards recording some of the more notable performances. Roger, his little brother, joined George, but Mary his sister, was told that bell ringing was not for girls! George certainly helped to change that attitude in later years. Over the years he taught his own sons, Daniel and Rowan, to ring and had begun also to ring with Nathan his youngest son, something cut short by Nathan s much too early death. In his 25 years as Tower Captain, George opened the pleasure of ringing to family members and to many others in the village. He encouraged men and women to learn to ring, and his patience, kindness and enthusiasm ensured that a core team was built up, that is now still ringing here and in other towers. Of course he did not do this alone. George was a keen supporter of those from other towers who wanted to come and ring at Tilston and he liked to hear people compliment us on our very fine bells. George enjoyed being one of the visitors ringing at the new bell tower when it was inaugurated at Chester Cathedral. He also enjoyed being a member of the Chester Guild for Bell Ringers and took part in a number of events. Friends from Chester and local parishes helped him to train new ringers in 2010 to join the core team at Tilston, in that generous way that bell ringers have of encouraging and building teams: and of passing on a shared love of bell ringing. He was always very grateful to you all for that help, even though the number of novices attracted, increased the number of stays he had to replace at an exponential rate! Really, George received help because he himself was such a welcoming friend to everyone, always generous and kind and full of fun. He was, quite simply, a good and lovely man, who lived by his very strong faith and who loved his family tradition of bell ringing. The ringers at St Mary s intend to keep his legacy going and will welcome newcomers, old stagers and helpers, just as George Price did. There will be a Memorial Service of Holy Communion for George at St Mary s at 2.30pm on Palm Sunday, 29 March, followed by tea. At Rushbearing in August, there will be a memorial ring in George s honour. So far I have heard nothing more about a suggested award to be given in George's honour by his family. 3. Tarvin Simulator Again, there will be more said at the Quarterly Meeting and more in writing; but I need to tell you now that from February through to December there will be monthly sessions at Tarvin using the simulator. See below. These sessions are being held by the kind invitation of the Tarvin ringers and 6
all the dates have been agreed by the church authorities. We shall obviously be using simulated sound only, and thus we can spend quite a long time on the bells. As well as doing the normal things we do on church bells there will also be some theory sessions, and specific exercises to teach you how to ring by ear alone. I am very grateful here to Patrick Deakin from Tarvin, who has done so much to get the simulator up and running. Patrick will have, I'm quite sure, lots of tricks up his sleeve to delight us all. At this stage everything will be geared to basic skills. It goes without saying that Patrick and I shall very much welcome help from experienced ringers. There will be a small charge for all those attending. Dates: Saturday 21st February Saturday 28th March Saturday 18th April Saturday 16th May Saturday 20th June Saturday 15th August Saturday 19th September Saturday 17th October Saturday 21st November Saturday 19th December Saturday 18th July Proposed times: 15.00-17.30. 4. Reasons to Ring I mentioned a few historic events for which to ring in my last Newsletter, and left them for you all to consider. It is now becoming much clearer that a great deal is being made of Magna Carta. I think it does mark a step along the road towards democracy, despite the enormous differences between the 13th and 21st centuries; and thus it is worth celebrating. And bells can reach so many ears! On Sunday 14th June there will be a national event called Liber-teas (yes, I know), when the whole nation will sit down to tea. That same day will also be a Grand Ringing Day, part of 'Strike a Blow for Democracy' weekend'. Blows still need to be struck in many parts of the world, but nevertheless I do strongly believe that we as bell ringers should play our part. What can be more English than the sound of church bells and a cup of tea - no doubt with a slice of home-made cake? We could all ring the bells, get the church to provide tea; and we can, at the same time, advertise to the wider world just what bell ringing is (and bring in the media). Heaven knows, we need to publicise our art and the future of ringing depends on our recruiting more ringers. I was a little dismayed - certainly if the evidence of footnotes to peals and quarters on BellBoard is examined - that so little has been made of the 750th anniversary of the holding of the First English Parliament. I dedicated a couple of quarters to the event, and actually got the local MP to come along and meet the band for a third one. Unfortunately that quarter was lost, but a photograph was still taken. More than the loss of the quarter I regret that nothing appeared in the Chronicle. This is what I sent to the paper: 7
Ringing for the first English Parliament Simon de Monfort, leading a rebellion against the then King, Henry III, believed the best way to secure his ends was to summon a parliament; and this he did in December 1264. Amongst those summoned were archbishops, bishops, barons but also two knights from each shire, and - an unprecedented move - two burgesses from each borough. The parliament met at Westminster Hall on 20th January 1265. It was dissolved in February, de Montfort was killed later in the year in battle, and the King's authority was restored. Nevertheless, this parliament however far removed from our modern parliamentary democracy - something achieved only through centuries of struggle - did represent a turning point in the history of the English Parliament. Bell ringers often need little excuse for ringing bells, and 2015 will see many important events which they can celebrate. The first of these is the 750th anniversary of the holding of the first English Parliament on 20th January. The commemorative ringing began in the evening of Friday 16th January at St Mary's Centre - in Cheshire West's very own bell-tower, where last year the bells had rung out to honour the men who lost their lives at Mons in 1914 - and continued on Saturday 17th at All Saints, Hoole. The ringers at Hoole were delighted to welcome the MP for the City of Chester before they rang the bells; and were even more pleased to hear he knew a little about bells. Perhaps this was, however, the first time he had held a bell rope. All Saints, Hoole 17th January 2015; from left to right: (front) Simon Christian (Tarporley), Patrick Deakin (Tarvin), Stephen Mosley MP, Kathryn Lloyd (Hoole), David Adams (Cathedral), Andrew Jobson (Tarporley), Brian Blakey (Hoole). There will be more bells rung on Wednesday 21st January* in Stephen Mosley's constituency, and later in the year they will have to ring again to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta. In September, God willing, the Queen will become the longest reigning British 8
monarch, which surely - like her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 - merits loud praise on bells. There are also 70th anniversaries of VE and VJ Day, and - very special to Cheshire - the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland; and several more. The ringing of bells is very much part of British cultural life and it is not for nothing that we are known as the Ringing Isle. The bell ringers of Cheshire hope to mark all these special occasions in the history of the nation in their own special way. * A Quarter Peal was rung at Waverton on that day for the Mid-week Crisis Group, and had five members of the Chester Branch ringing in it; details at the end. My Welsh spouse informs me that the Women's Institute was founded on 16th September 1915 at Llanfairpwll, Anglesey; and that surely merits some kind of celebratory ring. In the same vein, please do not forget that the new Bishop of Stockport, the Rev Libby Lane, will be installed at Chester Cathedral on Sunday 8th March. The other big ringing anniversary this year is on 2nd May, when the 300th anniversary of the first recorded true peal at St Peter Mancroft, Norwich is being celebrated. It probably wasn't the first full peal rung or the first true one, but it is the first one we know is true. I noticed in last week's Ringing World a suggestion - and I fully endorse it - that the Ringing Exercise should seriously consider aiming for 300 first-pealers in 2015. And why not? What, I hear you say, stand for three hours pulling a rope? You must be joking - and how do I control my bladder? It does not have to be three hours if a lightish ring of six bells is chosen and you don't have to stop drinking tea for twenty-four hours. If anybody wants to ring a peal I'll do everything I can to make it possible - that's a promise! Please do not dismiss it as something impossible. It's not. 5. Congratulations I'll try to look out for notable performances on BellBoard and in the Ringing World. I was pleased to spot this and Linda deserves the congratulations of the Branch. Please do not forget to inform me of all your tower's ringing achievements. Eccleston, Cheshire St Mary the Blessed Virgin Wednesday, 31 December 2014 in 39 minutes (26-3-3) 1260 Plain Bob Doubles 1 Andrew Hardiman 2 Lynda Whitlow 3 John R Williams 4 Gregory P Morris 5 Clive Culley (C) 6 Andrew Pridding Rung on the front six to mark the end of the old year and to welcome 2015. First quarter peal "inside" 2. 9
More congratulations are needed for the Waverton quarter, this time to Ben: Waverton, Cheshire St Peter Wednesday, 21 January 2015 in 50 Minutes (8 0 10) 1280 Plain Bob Major 1 Ben Kellett 2 Charles Hobson 3 Carol Ferris 4 Glyn Maddock 5 Robin Ferris 6 Mervyn J Harrison 7 J David Adams 8 Richard J Danby (C) First quarter of Major: 1. A Mid-week Crisis Quarter. Rung in celebration of the 750th anniversary of the holding of the first English Parliament (20th January 1265 at Westminster Hall, London). 6. News just received Somebody has just rung to tell me that Stella Shell's death is in today's Ringing World. Her name will mean nothing to most of you, but older ringers, especially Chester ones, will remember her. She was, before her marriage, Stella Kingdon, and was the daughter of the Rev Kingdon, Rector of St Mary Within the Walls (now St Mary's Centre). I am sure somebody will be able to tell us more in the next Newsletter about both father and daughter, and ringing at Old St Mary's in former times - a long time before I came to Chester. JDA 30/01/15 10