September 1999

The month got off to a good start with the dedication of the plaque in memory of William, 2nd Lord Brereton, at Brereton Church. Lord Brereton was not only our first member and first Master but has a claim to be the inventor of change ringing. Unfortunately it is impossible to establish with any certainty what he devised and what had gone before him, but there is evidence that he instituted rudimentary changes on 3 bells in the mid 17th century.

The Society had a thoroughly good time, both at the Bear’s Head on the Saturday night and on the Sunday. Tony Kench, who together with John Goodwin of the local ringers was instrumental in the occasion happening, has written in report for the Ringing World which should appear shortly.

The August Meeting was the shortest for a very long time. We wrapped up before 9.00 pm but in the process elected 2 new members and received the Independent Examiners’ Report for the year. Unfortunately, none of the property which has recently been reported as missing has been recovered but no more items have gone missing.

August practices have been well attended and the standard of ringing generally good. We have been pleased to welcome several members who are not regular attenders at the practice. We hope to see more of them. The return of the Tuesday Night spirit continues and socialising inside and outside the pub has been cordial.

The Special Practice on Meeting Night saw us at St Martin-in-the-Fields ringing Bristol Maximus. The standard of ringing was better than we often achieve on these bells but too many trips marred the performance.

The highlight of September is Peal Day on 18th, which hopefully will be more successful than last year.

Dinner tickets are still available. Members who have not yet applied are invited to do so. We have a good line up of speakers including Victor Stock, Rector of St Mary-le-Bow, Canon Lucy Winkett of St Paul’s Cathedral, and Chris Kippin. The Dinner is a good opportunity to bring along prospective members and show them the Society at its best. How about it?

A number of members have asked about protocol re bringing “other halves”. There isn’t any. Many members are bringing guests, others (probably the majority) are not. No-one will look out of place either way, so please do whatever you prefer.

Next month I hope to have details of Canada 2000, the Society’s Millennium ringing tour planned for mid May.

Good ringing,

Phil Rogers

October 1999

Last Saturday I was at Exeter for a Society peal of Stedman Cinques. Matthew Hilling rang the tenor single handed in 4hrs 11mins, a notable achievement.

The September Meeting was much longer than that in August but we got through a lot of business. No new members elected, the first time for many months that has happened, but 4 nominated, all potential or actual Tuesday night regulars. It has been notable this year how many new members are being attracted from the practice, which has to be positive.

David Hilling reported that the Oranges and Lemons project had so far raised about £5,000 for the Society’s Bell Fund, to be split 50/50 with that of the Cumberlands. This is a very useful sum, raised through a lot of hard work by David and Alan Regin. Anyone who has not yet seen the print is urged to do so. There will be an event at St Mary-le-Bow on 8th October when the Lord of Mayor of London will be presented with a special version of the print. We are hoping for good media coverage but these things are difficult to predict.

This is the time of year when we think of those members who are celebrating anniversaries in the Society. This year we congratulate Norman Chaddock, Philip Chalk (Past Master), Jack Dear, George Evenden, John Goodall, James Rich, Ernest Rowe, Brian Threlfall, Alexander Watt and Roy Webb on 50 years’ membership and Alfred Myers and Arthur Stracey on 60 years. 60 year anniversaries are going to be rare for the next few years. The nation had other things on its mind after 1939.

Remarkably, this year we celebrate two 70 year anniversaries: John H Crampion and Walter H Trueman. Many congratulations to them. We look forward to welcoming Jack Crampion to the Anniversary Dinner in November.

Talking of the Dinner, we have sold about 200 tickets from a maximum capacity of 250 or so. Plenty of room for more people but we already have a very good showing. The programme goes in the RW this week. A late addition is the dedication of a Peal Board for the Big Ring (the long peal at Southwark Cathedral in May 1998) at 12.30 on Dinner Day in the Cathedral. All welcome.

The Devon and Cornwall members are holding a get together at Launceston on 9th October following their very successful day in January. Please see the practices page or RW of 24 September for details.

Canada 2000 is coming along very well. It looks as if we will be going on 12th May, returning 22nd May. We will be spending the first weekend in Quebec, moving to Toronto early in the week, flying to Calgary on Wednesday and arriving in Vancouver on Thursday or Friday. We are hoping to arrange a full weekend of ringing on the West Coast as well as holding our first business meeting in Canada. Dill Faulkes, who is looking at the travel arrangements for us, has come up with a flight deal of around £450 for the whole trip, which for 6 flights sounds pretty good. Hotel arrangements being investigated.

For the next few weeks my mind is going to be on the Dinner. Most of the arrangements have been made but I dread doing the Seating Plan. Somebody has to sit next to......perhaps this is a good time to end.

Good ringing.

Phil Rogers

November 1999

Unfortunately, the Devon and Cornwall meeting did not take place because of lack of people being available.

At the October Business Meeting a discussion took place on the purchasing policy for the Society’s Library. The Librarian has agreed to review the books published in recent years and come up with recommendations as to which we should buy.

We were sorry to hear of the death of Ted Lee of Vancouver, one of our oldest members, who was elected in 1990.

Four new members were elected, all actual or potential Tuesday Night regulars.

We agreed to create a formal role of Webmaster and the natural choice, Dickon Love, was nominated. Officers for 1999/2000 were also nominated, with Paul Carless nominated as Master, Paul Mounsey as Senior Steward and Chris Pickford as Junior Steward. All other Officers were nominated for re-election. Elections take place next month.

It was agreed in principle to change from the present system whereby Minutes are handwritten, to one where they are produced on a word processor. Final arrangements to ensure the permanence of the record are to be decided. We do not intend to publish the entire record on the Web, but will consider how the Minutes could be more widely disseminated to interested Members.

Canada 2000 has been slower than hoped but progress is now being made and I hope to be in a position to distribute a programme to interested parties this month. We will also post this on the Web.

Next Saturday is the Big One, the Anniversary Dinner. We have 225 Members and Guests attending, which I think keeps us as the largest annual ringers’ dinner (I know this is a dangerous sort of statement to make and await correction).

Many will no doubt have seen the article on the front page of the RW for October 15th reporting the presentation of an Oranges and Lemons print to the Lord Mayor of London at St Mary-le-Bow. Those who have not yet bought the print are recommended to do so. It is an excellent product and good value, as well as raising money for the Bell Funds of the Society and the Cumberlands. If you struggle as much as I do to think of Christmas presents this could be the answer.

Good ringing.

Phil Rogers

December 1999

A full report, written by Simon Linford, will appear in the Ringing World shortly.

The following Tuesday was Election Night. Paul Carless was elected as Master, Paul Mounsey as Senior Steward and Chris Pickford as Junior Steward. The other Officers and the Peal Recorder were re-elected. Dickon Love was elected as Webmaster. In his closing remarks as Master, John White said that he had enjoyed his year of Office. He had set himself 2 objectives, to improve the standard of ringing and to bring the Society back together after the divisions of recent years. The first had been achieved, although there was still room for improvement, the second had been achieved in full and life was back to how it used to be. He thanked the Officers and Members for their support. There had been many highlights, the one he was most proud of being representing the Society at the Dedication of the Plaque to William, 2nd Lord Brereton, at Brereton in August. His one regret was in not retaining the Taylor Trophy and he wished his successor better fortune in the competition.

The new Master thanked John for all his hard work and commented that he would be a difficult act to follow. His plans were to concentrate on ringing, widening the repertoire and going all out to win the Taylor Trophy. He commented that the Society had been enhanced by good ringers and good people over the last year and was in good heart.

The following week, following Jack Crampion’s attainment of 70 years on November 12th, a celebration was held at the Old Dr Butler’s Head. Speakers paid tribute to Jack’s many qualities both as a ringer and as a person. In his reply, Jack drew on his unique memory of many of the great ringers of the Century. Jack was presented with a special Oranges and Lemons print, a framed version of the Membership Certificate and a picture of himself with Nasser Hussain. A full report for the Ringing World is being written by David Dearnley.

Members, as well as ringers generally, will have been sorry to read of the death of Norman Chaddock this month. Norman, another great character of ringing, celebrated 50 years’ membership this year. Norman will be remembered for many things, but for me the happiest memories are of trips to Inveraray in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. The bells would never have been restored in the way that they have without Norman’s skill, enthusiasm and diplomacy.

Another busy time for ringers approaches. In London we will be celebrating Christmas in the traditional ways: Christmas Eve ringing at St Paul’s followed by mince pies and a glass of something, Christmas Day and (this year) Boxing Day ringing around the City. There will also be a ringers’ party in the Old Dr Butler’s Head on Saturday 18th, all welcome.

No sooner are the hangovers fading than we are into the Millennium celebrations. We are hoping to ring a 10,000 of Stedman Cinques at St Paul’s. There is also a peal at Westminster Abbey and Society members will be well represented both in the City and the country as a whole as the bells ring out at midnight and on New Year’s Day.

Next year there are many exciting things planned including the trip to Canada, details of which are now available from me at 193, Lennard Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1QN (Email) and on the Canada 2000 Page. I am also considering starting a subscription service whereby Members can receive copies of Society Minutes by Email in return for a donation to the Bell Fund. Anyone interested is invited to contact me.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.

Phil Rogers