January 2006

With apologies for yet another longer-than-intended gap in the schedule, here goes with news of another busy few months in the life of the Society.

Anniversary Dinner

The Anniversary Dinner is always a highlight in the Society’s calendar, and this year was no exception.  On the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (5th November) a crowd of 295 people thronged into the Guoman Tower Hotel to eat, drink and be merry.  It was the biggest turnout for a Dinner since the Society’s 350th anniversary in 1987, which illustrates the Society’s current health.

Ann Wilby’s excellent Ringing World write-up records the events of the evening in more detail.  Suffice to say that feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are already talking to the management about how we can make it (and in particular the pre-dinner drinks and wine ordering arrangements) even better next year.  There were rumours circulating during the weekend that the hotel was due to be demolished, but those have proved to be unfounded and we are all set to return in 2006.

Top table changes

The November meeting saw Stephanie (Stef) Warboys take over as the Society’s first lady Master, in place of Simon Linford.  Much has been written and said about Simon’s achievements during his year of office and I do not propose to add anything here, other than to thank him again for all his hard work.   Chris Kippin was elevated to the role of Senior Steward and we welcomed Mark Humphreys to the Top Table as the new Junior Steward.  The Secretary, Treasurer and Trustees were all re-elected.

The post of Librarian, which had been left vacant by Jim Phillips’ resignation in June, went to Chris Ridley after a contested election with Paul Carless.  Chris is well-known for his work on the Central Council Library and he has thrown himself energetically into the task of getting to grips with the Society’s varied collection of books, property and ephemera.  As agreed at the September meeting, a Library sub-group has been formed to support Chris in his work; this comprises the Librarian, Secretary and Trustees, plus elected members Chris Pickford and Steve Waters.  The sub-group met for the first time at the end of November and the aim is to bring back initial recommendations to the April meeting.

Finally, at the December meeting (held at the Red Herring, as the Counting House was unavailable) we elected two Independent Examiners; Andrew Keech and Nigel Bailey.  Nigel replaces Andrew Graham, who has retired after 7 years’ sterling work; we thank him for his contribution.

Elections and deaths

We have elected 15 members since my last update.  This has included a batch of candidates from South Wales, no doubt in preparation for the planned Society peal weekend there in February.  To all our new members we extend a warm welcome.

Sadly we have also lost 10 members by death, including well-known names such as Trevor Bailey, David Parsons and John Longridge.  The tragic loss of Jonathan Hughes in a belfry accident at the tender age of 22 came as a particular shock.  A senior Member recently remarked to me that “I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but we seem to have had more deaths since you became Secretary”.   Statistically that’s not actually true, but we have lost some much-loved characters over the last few months, so maybe it just seems that way.

The North American initiative

A particularly pleasing feature of the last few months has been the re-kindling of Society activity in North America.  This started in earnest with a (sadly unsuccessful) peal attempt at Pittsburgh for Peal Weekend, which has provided the impetus for our North American members to get together on a more regular basis.  An e-mail group has been set up, co-ordinated by Greg Hinson; several new members have been elected; a Society peal was successfully rung at Raleigh in December, with a band made up entirely of North American residents; and a series of gatherings is planned for 2006 and beyond, starting with a weekend based on Atlanta and Marietta in March.  The distances between towers and the fragmented nature of the Society’s presence in North America have conspired against such activities in the past, and it is good to see real efforts being made to overcome these barriers.  Visitors are always welcome to these NA gatherings; if any member happens to be passing that way and wants to join in, let me know and I’ll put you in touch.

Ringing

Tuesday night practices have of course continued as usual, and provide a focus for the regular London members.  The end of Simon’s year featured a very successful “out of town” practice at Guildford Cathedral, with a good mix of local and London members, and an increased emphasis on ringing the “repertoire” methods (Phobos, Bristol, Ariel, Orion and Zanussi) in Spliced.  Two Special practices (at Cornhill and Shoreditch) gave several members the opportunity for an extended practice in these methods, with highly satisfactory results.

The emphasis for Stef since she took over has been to build on Simon’s work, to encourage more members to learn Ariel and Orion and to aim for excellent striking.  Avon has been added to the repertoire, with Rigel to follow.   There has also been plenty of opportunity to ring the (relatively) simple things well, with good touches of Stedman and Bristol at most practices.  The practice at Southwark in November was particularly memorable, with a high standard of striking maintained throughout.

One of Stef’s “big ideas” was to enter two Society bands in the National 12-bell Contest, to allow some of the many talented ringers who attend regularly on Tuesdays to take part.  With the permission of the Contest Committee (and after some debate) the Society’s “A” band entry was accepted.  Thankfully the two teams have been kept apart in the eliminators on 25th March, with the first band drawn at Southwark and the “A” team at Mancroft.

Records and peal writing

We were pleased (at last) to score our peal of 100 all the work Spliced S Major at Loughborough Bell Foundry at the end of October.  Sadly the Cambridge handbell band’s attempt for 72,000 Minor came to grief after “only” 17 hours of (by all accounts) excellent ringing.  This was Andrew Tibbetts’ swan song, as he has moved to Scotland to live, work and set more records, this time climbing mountains.

This news will be welcomed by the writer of the Society’s peal book, who faces the daunting task of recording the many peals of multi-spliced rung by the Cambridge band over the last few years.  With her (and the cost of peal writing) in mind, the Officers brought a motion to the December meeting proposing that details of these peals be cross-referred to their Ringing World entry, rather than written up in full.  However, this was heavily defeated, the strong view of the meeting being that the Society should keep its own independent record.  The debate about peal writing is likely to continue, with computer-generated records very much on the agenda for future discussion.

Other news

At the October meeting we heard that Dill Faulkes, one of our Past Masters, had offered to pay for a new (32 cwt) ring of 12 at Cornhill.  This is excellent news, as the current bells are generally considered to be of poor quality and too heavy for the tower.  The process is still at an early stage, but plans are being worked up and it is hoped to obtain formal PCC and DAC approval and a faculty in the course of 2006.

The other highlight of October was the wedding of two Society members, Paul Carless and Janet Rothera, at Chelmsford.  This was an extremely happy occasion, with a strong ringing focus.  It was pleasing to see Janet’s father David in such good form, and we wish him well as he continues his treatment for bowel cancer.  It was also a pleasure to see our Treasurer, Andrew Stubbs; he was still fairly weak after his major health scare and operation in September, but is very much on the mend.  We were delighted that he was able to take his usual place as MC at the Anniversary Dinner, although it was strange to see him on soft drinks all evening!

November featured the Ringers’ Advent Carol Service at Cripplegate, followed by the Ringers’ Christmas Party at the Red Herring nearby.   This year the Society were the hosts, and our thanks go to Gwen Rogers for organising such a splendid event.  The Carol Service is fast becoming an annual tradition, with a ringers’ choir and lessons read by representatives of the Society’s towers and other London societies.  Rector Katharine Rumens’ (presumably unwitting) choice of topic for her sermon was a flash of genius: “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”.  Mrs Kippin was not amused. 

Unfortunately Cripplegate bells were out of action that day, the result of a broken 5th stay which had become wedged between bell and frame and had levered the gudgeon out of its bearings.  Thankfully the damage turned out to be not too serious and was quickly repaired, but it was frustrating not to be able to ring on what was otherwise a highly successful evening.

December saw the long-awaited publication of the updated edition of the Society’s History, just in time for Christmas.  Thanks go to Dickon Love and his team of writers, editors and historians for their contributions to what has widely been heralded as a considerable enhancement of Bill Cook’s original work.  If you would like a copy, please contact Dickon direct (see the Society’s web site for details).

Finally, at the January meeting we received the annual reports of our Tower Officials - the appointed Secretary and Steeplekeeper at each of the towers which fall within the Society’s care (St Mary-le-Bow, Cornhill, Cripplegate, St Sepulchre and St Lawrence Jewry).  This year the reports were fairly uneventful, which is a tribute to the largely unsung work which goes on behind the scenes.  At St Sepulchre efforts are being made to smarten up the ringing room (which is frankly a bit shabby) and to improve the internal acoustics, with the help of some Rockwool left over from the recent work at Cripplegate.  We await the results with interest.

Looking forward

Plans are well advanced for another busy year.  On 1 February we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the death of Benjamin Annable with a handbell peal attempt at St Bride’s, the church where he is buried and where so many of the Society’s early peals were rung.  Then there is the South Wales weekend mentioned above, a repeat of the “practice night” contest with the Cumberlands in April, the Master’s Challenge in Bristol on 20 May (more details to follow), the Country Meeting in Birmingham on 15 July and the Peal Weekend in September.  More on all this next time...

Good ringing, and best wishes to all,

John Hughes-D'Aeth

May 2006

South Wales weekend

The third weekend of February was memorable for two reasons.

The first was the wedding, at Ranmoor (Sheffield), of the Junior Steward (Mark Humphreys) and Emma Drury. This was by all accounts a splendid affair, with an outstanding musical accompaniment. Our warmest congratulations and best wishes to Mark and Emma for their future life together.

While they were celebrating, the rest of us were enjoying the hospitality of the South Wales ringers at a peal weekend based in Cardiff. We were treated to some glorious bells (including well-known "beauties" such as Abergavenny and Ebbw Vale), the delights of Brain's bitter and a slap-up buffet dinner for over 60 members and friends on the Saturday night. Not everything went quite according to plan; 12 people turned up at Llanfeugan and only 7 at Basseleg (both 8-bell towers) on the Friday evening. However, 10 peals were scored, many friendships were made or renewed and a thoroughly good time was had by all. Our thanks to David Llewellyn for masterminding the local arrangements, to Gwen Rogers for organising the peals and to the Master for coming up with the idea and keeping us all in order.

Deaths and elections

One sadness of the weekend was that Jack Pryor, one of our staunchest South Wales members and a friend to many in the Exercise, was not well enough to join us. It was therefore not entirely surprising (although still a shock) to hear of his death at the end of March. Unfortunately, his funeral fell on the day of the April meeting and so some of his closest ringing colleagues were unable to join us that evening. However, he was remembered with affection and it was pleasing to be able to read out a written tribute from Bob Smith, one of his many proteges, at the May meeting.

In all we have lost 7 members since my last update. The March meeting was a particularly sombre one with 4 obituaries, including Past Master Alan Patterson and two other very well-known figures, Denis Mottershead and Bill Critchley. On a happier note, we have elected 6 new members; to them we extend a warm welcome.

Ringing

Tuesday night practices of course continue to provide a focus for the regular London members. Most practices over the last few months have been well attended and some of the ringing has been first-class, with that at St Sepulchre in April being particularly pleasing. The Church's decision to hold services at St Sepulchre at 6.15 pm on Tuesdays has somewhat restricted our practices there, but it is clear that we can ring them well when we try. The focus methods have been Avon, Orion, Ariel and Rigel, both singly and in Spliced, with plenty of well-struck Stedman and Bristol as well.
Special practices have been more varied in quality, with some of the ringing being rather disappointing. Specials provide a useful opportunity for members to consolidate their method ringing or to fine tune their striking, but for various reasons one or two recently have misfired. Stef intends to focus on getting maximum benefit from Specials over the remainder of her year and let us hope that this pays dividends.

Peal ringing has also continued at a good pace, only slightly down on our record-breaking efforts in 2005. A highlight was the 13,579 Stedman Cinques at Cripplegate on Easter Monday, which featured some excellent ringing on those much-improved but still challenging bells. Thanks to Phil and Gwen for arranging this and to Paul Mounsey for keeping us on our toes with an interesting composition.

Striking contests

A major part of the ringing focus during the spring is always on the National 12-bell Contest. That was particularly the case for the Society this year in view of Stef's initiative to enter two bands in the Contest.

Both bands had achieved good ringing in their practices and went into the eliminators with confidence. At Southwark, the first band produced a confident performance and won by a clear margin, beating the Cumberlands into second place (much to Stef's evident delight). At Mancroft the "A" team also rang creditably, but did not quite give of their best (nerves perhaps?) and finished a close fourth, just outside the qualifying places. Despite this, the consensus was that the experiment had been a great success and that the band had benefited greatly from the experience. We are looking forward to the Final at Worcester Cathedral on 24 June; the bells will be a challenge for all the teams, but they may just suit us.

We had another opportunity to beat the Cumberlands in the ASCY v SRCY contest, which took place over two evenings in April. The first leg saw us visit their HQ (St Martin-in-the-Fields) and show them how to ring Bristol Maximus. The second leg at Southwark comprised a touch of Stedman Triples on the new light 8, followed by a course of London Royal on the back 10. Despite a spectacular method mistake in the London, the judges (one from each side per touch) arrived at the right result and the Society came away with a 3-0 victory. We then gave them a lesson in old-fashioned hospitality (Society style - no orange juice!) in the Market Porter afterwards. This is rapidly becoming an annual event and, gloating aside, has proved to be an excellent way of maintaining and improving relations between the two "senior" societies. The format (30 ringers on each side) ensured a large turn-out on both evenings this year.

More activity in North America

The upsurge in Society activity in North America has continued into 2006. A very successful weekend in Georgia in March saw peals rung at Augusta and Marietta, plus much socialising and practising with the local ringers. A more detailed report (including pictures) can be found on the web site. A group of UK and North American members (including several Officers) is gathering for a weekend of peals and quarters in Toronto in August, and plans are afoot to ring peals at all three towers in the Washington D.C. area over the Peal Weekend in September.

Lunches and dinners

The Master's badge was in evidence at the Henry Johnson Dinner in Birmingham, chaired this year by Stef and attended by many Society members, and also at a dinner at the Banqueting Suite in Whitehall hosted by the Lord Mayor of Westminster (Councillor Tim Joiner), where Stef was a guest of honour. Tim is the nephew of our Treasurer, Andrew Stubbs; he has done much to promote ringing during his year in office and many members have been lucky enough to enjoy his generous hospitality.

On Palm Sunday some 28 Past Masters (plus Stef) enjoyed a thoroughly convivial lunch in Ye Olde Watling in Bow Lane, arranged by Tony Kench and Andrew Wilby and chaired by the senior Past Master present, Mike Chilcott, who entertained us with a few amusing and well-chosen words. More recently, on 5th May, a group of 66 members and friends sat down for the Informal Dinner at Bangers in Moorgate. The food this year did not quite match up to the standards of previous years, but this did not detract from a highly sociable evening. I'm told that a few late night revellers failed to make it into a 1980s night club afterwards! My thanks to Becky Sugden and Martin Cansdale for making all the arrangements.

Projects - update

The appeal for funds to pay for a new ring of 12 at St Magnus the Martyr is moving ahead, with the support of the church authorities and the PCC. The Bishop of London has agreed to act as patron and a Fundraising Committee has been working hard behind the scenes to develop the fundraising strategy. The appeal is to be formally launched at a musical evening in the church on Thursday 22nd June; a number of dignitaries from the City (including the Lord Mayor) and the Livery Companies have been invited to attend, as well as representatives of the City clergy, local businesses and ringing organisations. It is planned to host an exhibition of bells and ringing (featuring St Magnus and the Society) at the launch and members agreed at the May meeting to allow items of the Society's property to be borrowed for this purpose. I will keep members informed of the progress of this exciting project.

More good news is that the PCC at Cornhill has voted overwhelmingly to accept Past Master Dill Faulkes' offer to pay for a new 32 cwt ring of 12 to replace the current ring, which are generally considered to be of inferior tonal quality and too big for the tower. Detailed assessments carried out by Taylors Eayre & Smith suggest that, with a ring of this weight, the tower movement will be greatly reduced and the bells will be much easier to ring. The next stage is to obtain DAC approval; it is hoped that this will be forthcoming in June.

Finally, it is pleasing to hear that the new sharp 2nd at Cripplegate is now almost fully funded and will hopefully be installed in the autumn. My congratulations to Gwen Rogers for masterminding this project and the associated appeal.

Other news

As reported in my last Update, on 1st February the Society marked the 250th anniversary of the death of Benjamin Annable with three peals. These included a handbell peal of Plain Bob Major in the (freezing cold) ringing chamber at St Bride's Fleet Street, the church where he was buried and where so many of the Society's early peals were rung, using one of his original compositions. The Rector of St Bride's took an enthusiastic interest in both our performance and the suggestion that the Society should erect a plaque in the ringing chamber in Annable's memory, perhaps along the same lines as that in memory of Fabian Stedman at St Andrew Undershaft. We are pursuing this and will come back with a firm proposal in the next couple of months.

As usual, on Shrove Tuesday (28th February) we rang a touch at the Southwark practice and drank a toast in memory of Rev F Llewellyn Edwards, funded by the income from his legacy (recently topped up by donations from Members). It was observed that the Southwark pub (the Market Porter) is not an ideal venue for this and we will try and make sure that Southwark and Shrove Tuesday do not clash in future.

Your Secretary missed the March meeting due to illness; my thanks to Chris Rogers for standing in at short notice. At that meeting we re-elected all our Tower Officials and also received Philip Saddleton's peal report, which always provides an interesting angle on the previous year's peal ringing activity. Unfortunately, due to the Cambridge handbell band's somewhat variable ability to submit details of peals rung, the first report contained a number of errors. Philip and the Treasurer are still trying to sort out exactly how many peals the Society rang in 2005!

At the April meeting we once again welcomed George Pipe, who presented two fascinating items to the Library; a hand painted framed print of the Society ringing at Bow in 1850, which is reproduced in the new History book, and a blank invitation to the 300th Anniversary Dinner, which had been given to him by Past Master Frank Smallwood. George has been extremely generous in his donations over the years and we are most grateful to him. We also congratulate George and Diana on reaching their Golden Wedding earlier this month.

Finally, on 29th April many of us were privileged to join in the celebrations to mark the marriage of two Society members, Ann Wilby and John White. A stirring service in the beautiful crypt of St Paul's Cathedral was followed by a magnificent lunch and party, laid on for the occasion by our friends at the Paternoster. It was a most fitting occasion and we wish them every happiness for the future.

Upcoming events

We are very much looking forward to the Master's Challenge in Bristol this Saturday (20th May) and the Country Meeting in Birmingham on 15th July. Plans are also being laid for the Peal Weekend in September and the Anniversary Dinner on 4th November. Details of all these and other events can be found on our web site.

Good ringing, and best wishes to all,

John Hughes-D'Aeth

October 2006

With the nights drawing in and final arrangements for the Anniversary Dinner in hand, it's high time for me to post another in my occasional series of blogs (as I believe they're now called) with news of a busy summer for the Society.

Master's Challenge

A large number of Society members descended on Bristol on Saturday 20th May, in response to an innovative challenge laid down by the Master (Stef Warboys).  Six teams, with exotic names such as Eastern Promise and Wilby's Wonderful Ringers, were invited to tackle a range of tasks, some forming part of the standard repertoire and others definitely not.  The acronym for Roy le Marechal's team was not fit to repeat in a family blog (see the RW of 9th June if you're curious).

Your correspondent spent the day esconsed in the Cathedral ringing room, where the teams were challenged to learn and ring a new treble dodging Major method within 25 minutes.  All managed it, with varying degrees of success.  Meanwhile the Lord Mayor's Chapel played host to six performances of "60 on thirds", Devon-style, and St Stephen's saw a variety of 12-bell touches marked on the basis of "degree of difficulty" as well as "technical merit".  Finally, a quiz set by the Society's Librarian saw the Web Site being disabled for the day and various attempts to "phone a friend" in a bid to track down the answers.

At the end of the day Andrew Graham's Paternoster Squares were declared worthy winners, with Roy's team living up to its name in last place.  However, the occasion really belonged to Stef, who had come up with the idea, made all the arrangements and persuaded over 80 members to take part.  Our congratulations and thanks to her for a wonderful day, and to the Bristol ringers for making us so welcome.

National 12-Bell Contest

After a confident performance in the eliminator at Southwark, our hopes were high for the final of the National 12-Bell Contest at Worcester Cathedral on 24th June.   We'd had a very promising practice on the bells and some useful fine tuning at Southwark, where a peal attempt the Saturday before had sadly come to grief two courses from the end (Michael Uphill described it as possibly the best ringing he'd ever heard on the bells).  We'd also tolerated the intrusion of the film crew led by Marcus Brigstock, who were following the Contest as part of a series on "British Obsessions" and (for obvious reasons) seemed to have taken us to heart.

On the day we produced a steady touch and were pleased to beat Birmingham, whom we had seen as our biggest rivals.  However, we were once again pipped at the post, this time by a strong performance from the St Paul's Cathedral band, who clearly relished the heavy and challenging bells.  The film crew were quick to capture Stef's distress on camera, much to the glee of some of the St Paul's ringers.  The whole day was a triumph for our Worcester hosts, with a veritable army of people gathering on the Cathedral Green to meet old friends, enjoy the sunny weather, listen to the glorious bells and consume the copious amounts of beer and food on offer.  (In case you're interested, the programme is due to be screened on BBC4 in Spring 2007.)

The Society's experiment of entering two bands in the Contest will not be repeated next year, as the Contest Committee has decided not to accept multiple entries.   That is fair enough, but we will be redoubling our efforts to finally get that trophy back at St Stephen's, Bristol next June.

Day trips to Birmingham

Birmingham saw a friendly invasion of Society members (and others) on two consecutive weekends in July.

First was the wedding of two well-known members, Vicky Halliwell and Michael Wilby, at St Paul's in the Jewellery Quarter on 8th July.  This was an absolutely splendid occasion, featuring the usual mix of peals, lavish outfits, fine music, joyous company, excellent speeches and plenty of alcohol all round.  Unusually, the day also included a striking contest in which (to no-one's surprise, and with a bit of help from judge Rod Pipe) the Society's band came second.  Our warmest congratulations to Vicky and Michael and best wishes for their future life together.

Just a few days later, many of us were back for the Society's Country Meeting.  The now customary series of peal attempts on the Thursday and Friday met with mixed results, with the St Paul's attempt having to be cancelled due to a clash with a George Melly concert.  General ringing on the Saturday was followed by a short business meeting in the Council Chamber (possibly the grandest meeting venue ever?), where we were welcomed in inimitable style by the Master of the St Martin's Guild, Richard Grimmett.  82 members and friends then enjoyed an excellent dinner in the sumptuous Banqueting Suite of the Council House, after which Paul Mounsey presented Andrew Stubbs with a gift to mark his 25 years' service as the Society's Treasurer.  Andrew his since announced that he wishes to retire in November; he has truly made the job his own over the last quarter of a century and will be a very hard act to follow.  Again our thanks to Stef and the local ringers for making the whole weekend such a success.

Peal weekend

After the huge success of last year's Peal Weekend, the pressure was on the Senior Steward (Chris Kippin) to do even better this year, and he didn't let us down.

The plan this time was to attempt peals in every English diocese, plus Scotland, Wales, the USA and Australia.  We didn't quite manage that, but in the event 63 attempts were arranged and 49 Society peals were scored, thus eclipsing last year's record.  Another fantastic effort, and our sincere thanks go to Chris for once again encouraging, badgering and cajoling us all in support of the cause.  In the process we have unearthed several more "lost" Members, which is a welcome side-effect.

The Peal Weekend has played a big part in another stupendous year of peal ringing for the Society.  As things stand, there is every possibility that we will surpass last year's record total of 275; we will certainly come very close.  Stef alone is on course to become the first person ever to ring 100 Society peals in a year.   In the process she has clocked up many thousands of miles and has rung with a huge number of Members, both across the UK and overseas.  Her contribution to the Society's mission during her time as Master has been immense, and we mere mortals can only marvel at her stamina.  Thank you Stef for all your efforts, and enjoy the rest come November!

New members and deaths

We have elected 10 new members since my May update.  2006 has been slightly quieter for elections than recent years, but we have a good crop of candidates coming through and it was pleasing to see three of them at the October meeting.  To all our new members we extend a warm welcome.

Sadly, this period has also seen the deaths of two very long-serving members; Jeff Birt (elected 1945) and our senior known member, Rev Anthony Trotman, who was elected in 1933.  We have also marked the passing of Derek Sawyer of Toronto (not a Society member, but a great friend to visiting bands) and Jill Phillips, the wife of our dear friend and former Librarian Jim.

Practices

Tuesday night practices have continued as usual over the summer.  Attendances have been variable, but we have had good practices at St Paul's Cathedral and St Sepulchre in particular, with well-struck touches of Stedman and Bristol interspersed with more advanced fare such as Orion and Phobos.  We were made very welcome by the Cumberlands on our excursions to two of their host towers, Shoreditch and St Martin-in-the-Fields.  We have also seen pleasing Special practices at St Mary-le-Bow, Jewry (some 8-bell focus for a change) and Cripplegate.

One of the highlights of the summer was the Out of Town practice, this year held on a baking hot evening at Great St Mary, Cambridge.  The old-fashioned bells (that's a polite phrase) and stifling humidity didn't deter a crowd of nearly 40 people, including a strong local turn-out, a good London contingent and visitors from Essex, Towcester and Lincolnshire.  Some very respectable ringing, including Orion and Zanussi, was followed by a highly sociable session in the Castle afterwards.

Projects

I am pleased to report that the various current projects in which the Society has an interest (as mentioned in previous updates) are progressing well.

The appeal for funds to pay for a new ring of 12 at St Magnus the Martyr was formally launched at an event in the church on Thursday 22nd June, attended by representatives of the City, local businesses and ringing organisations.  The launch featured a presentation by Dickon Love and a display on bells and ringing, focusing on St Magnus and the Society and including many items of the Society's property.  The event generated significant interest and monies are now starting to roll in, including offers to sponsor several bells.  The Society agreed at its August business meeting to make a grant of £25,000 from the Bell Restoration Fund, and contributions are being invited to pay for a Past Masters' bell.  Future plans to raise funds include a sponsored Peal Day in the London area on 19th May next year.

The project to install a new 32 cwt ring of 12 at Cornhill (generously funded by Past Master Dill Faulkes) received a setback when, after inspecting the tower and fittings in June, the Council for the Care of Churches decided to recommend the retention of the existing (inferior) ring. However, following a vigorous lobbying campaign led by Tower Secretary Tony Kench and supported by the Rector (Peter Mullen), the DAC decided to override the CCC and approve the project at its September meeting. The final hurdle to overcome is the faculty application, which is now in progress; all being well, it is hoped that work on casting the new bells may be able to start early in 2007.

The new sharp 2nd at Cripplegate was installed last month and is now in use.   Unfortunately the ring as a whole is not; a broken clapper near the end of a recent peal attempt meant a late change of venue for this week's practice.  It is hoped to have the bells back in action in time for Dinner weekend.

Finally, this weekend sees the first peal attempts taking place at Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York, another new ring of 12 generously funded by Dill.  The bells (tenor 23-3-17 in D) were hung last week and bear the names of the Society members who are to ring in the first peal.  Pictures and more information can be found on the Society's Web Site.

St Mary-le-Bow

The Officers have spent much time over the last few months considering the Society's future relationship with St Mary-le-Bow, following Mark Regan's decision to retire as Tower Secretary and Steeplekeeper.

The PCC decided that, rather than allow the Society to nominate a replacement (or replacements) for approval by the Church in accordance with our usual procedure, it wished to advertise the post in the Ringing World and invite applications from those interested.  Clearly this may affect the Society's position, since we cannot take it for granted that a Society member will be appointed.  It may also require a change to our Rules, although for the moment we have chosen to wait and see what happens.

In a bid to allay the Society's fears, the Rector (George Bush) took the unusual step of addressing the July business meeting to explain the PCC's thinking.   I have also had several discussions with him about the process generally, although it is very much being led by the Church.

The closing date for applications was last Sunday (22nd October); we await the outcome with interest.  Meanwhile an event is being arranged on 1st February 2007 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the casting of Bow bells and to thank Mark for 25 years of magnificent service, during which time he has transformed the condition and availability of Bow bells.  Details can again be found on our Web Site.

Other news