As many of our readers will know, we are lucky to have several up and coming young ringers in our band and on Sunday 14th September one of them, 13-year-old Roddy Lucas, rang his first quarter-peal. Although Roddy has been ringing for several years this was his first attempt at a quarter-peal, which involves 45 minutes’ continuous ringing, and our congratulations go to him for his achievement. By chance the quarter was also Roy Barclay’s 200th on the bells.
We also rang a quarter-peal on Sunday 12th October, this time in celebration for the life of Janet Mackay whose husband Iain was a member of our band until his health prevented him from ringing some years ago.
On Saturday, 11th October we hosted the Annual Meeting of the Maidstone District of the Kent County Association of Change Ringers. Other ringers from churches around the Maidstone area joined us for ringing, and for Evensong kindly led by Silke. This was followed by tea and then the business meeting at which the District Officers for the forthcoming year (including several from our own tower) were elected.
By the time you read this, our ringers will have taken part in All Saints’ Birthday Celebrations on Saturday 1st November where the tower was open for visitors to see the bells and learn a little about their history and about bellringing in general.
As to the future, on Tuesday 4th November we will be holding our Tower AGM at which we will be electing our own tower officers for the coming year, so ringing will be somewhat curtailed that evening. Then on Saturday 15th November we will be welcoming visitors from the Tonbridge District who will be ringing our bells from 7 – 9pm. This apart, we will be ringing on our normal Tuesday practice evening and for the regular Sunday services during November.