January 2004

I apologise that these Updates have not appeared for the last few months. I am afraid that a combination of the Australia Tour and the Anniversary Dinner took up all of my time and several other things got squeezed out. Thanks to the Webmaster for bringing things up to date in early December.

As always, December was generally a busy month on the London ringing scene but, with only the normal monthly programme, it is not a particularly intense period for the Society.

As has become the custom in recent years, the December Meeting was held in Davy’s Wine Bar, Creed Lane. There was not much business apart from a proposal from Mr C J Cooper that Rule 1 be amended to exclude women from Membership. This was heavily defeated by a margin of 50+ to 2 (in the circumstances it was not worth counting the votes against exactly). This may continue to be raised from time to time as Mr Cooper appears to believe that the Society has been going to the dogs in recent years and that he needs to do something about it. Fortunately, not many people seem to agree with him.

The annual London Ringers Party was organised this year by the University of London Society at Chamberlains Hotel. I was not able to go myself but from what I have heard it was a good night. The Beckenham contingent, who I bumped into on Christmas Eve, certainly seems to have had a good night, although catching the last train home seems to have presented them with a challenge.

Practices lately have been going very well. In the first few under the new Master, Colin Newman, everything seemed to work perfectly. Unfortunately, the last couple have not gone so well. All Masters find that there are nights when everything goes and others when, for no apparent reason, nothing does. Let’s hope that we get back to winning ways soon.

As always in the New Year, it is a time for looking forward. Everything always seems that much closer once we get into January. As always, there is much to look forward to. Highlights will include a Country Meeting in York on 17 July, with a dinner at the National Railway Museum. The Society is hosting the National 12 Bell Final at St Mary-le-Bow on 26 June and we look forward to seeing as many Members and friends on that occasion as possible. Finally, we have the first Anniversary Dinner at our new venue, the Thistle Tower Hotel. It looks as if we are going to be able to knock a pound or two off last year’s ticket price so, hopefully, that combined with a new venue will enable us to top last year’s attendance figure.

Good ringing,

Phil Rogers.

February 2004

This year is not really an exception to the general rule, although with the 12 Bell Final coming to London in June there is more to do than usual. The outline of the organisation has to be done by the eliminators in March and inevitably a lot of the preparation has to be done now. Not all by me, I am pleased to say.

The other task which has to be done at this time of the year is the organisation of the Informal Dinner, which is usually in March or April, depending what other things there are on. Easter in particular has an influence on the timing of the Informal. This year it will be towards the early end of its range, falling on Friday 19^th March. Not a brilliant date for me as I am due to be in a peal attempt at Bow the following day, but perhaps that will be an incentive to lay off the booze (or perhaps not). Tickets are printed and are about to go on sale. Once again we are going to Davy’s Wine Bar, Creed Lane. A good venue, if a somewhat cosy one at times.

The January Meeting is always marked by Tower Officials Reports. This year, a notable event was the announcement by Nigel Thomson that he is standing down as Tower Secretary at St Sepulchre after over 25 years in the job. A magnificent achievement for which we thank him. Ringing at St Sepulchre might get a bit more difficult in the future as work is currently taking place to renovate the church flat. When it was occupied before we had to be careful how much ringing we did, especially during the week. It remains to be seen whether we will be constrained in the future.

Finally, a sad, but not entirely unexpected piece of news reached me towards the end of the month. John McDonald of Birmingham, who had been ill with cancer for some time, died on 20^th January. John was for many of us the archetypical Birmingham ringer, keen on the good things in life, mad about good ringing, capable of great feats especially in the conducting arena and very fond of winning the 12 Bell Contest. He particularly enjoyed saying that the removal of this or that Birmingham ringer to London had increased the average standard of ringing in both centres. He will be sadly missed.

Good ringing,

Phil Rogers.